


Will of the Sun

by HonorH



Series: The Sun Angel [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-02-23 11:03:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13188723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonorH/pseuds/HonorH
Summary: Crown Prince Nicolas of Hades has spent years at war. To him, the world has been harsh and painful, and only his fierce loyalty to his people--and they to him--makes life worth living. And then he meets a healer who will change everything . . .





	1. Winter's War

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn't plan this to happen, but when I finished "Nico of the Angels," I realized there was more story to tell. I wanted to show more of the world I'd created, too, especially Hades and its traditions. This is Nico's story. I hope you enjoy it.

Picture a throne room in black, white, red and silver. Picture the size and scope of it, larger than most houses, more somber than a temple, every line of it designed to emphasize that the sovereign is great, and you are not. Picture a king on a throne, with a queen like an ice sculpture sitting beside him.

Now picture a skinny sixteen-year-old boy, vibrating with anger and passion, looking like a flea in that huge space, accusing that king of cowardice.

That young idiot would be me.

“Jupiter and Neptune are keeping us safe,” I said. “Prince Percy himself was on one of the ships in the Neptunian fleet that kept Keto’s forces from our eastern coast this summer.” I was glad, as I said this, that I wasn’t prone to blushing; my crush on my “cousin” Percy was embarrassing enough without my father knowing about it. “Prince Jason has joined the Imperial Legion. Princess Thalia’s hunting with the Selenites. And what am I doing?” I paused for dramatic effect. “Running messages to the Imperial Senate as your ambassador.”

“Yes,” said my father. “You’re safe, son. I would rather have you running messages and being bored than put your life at risk.”

“My life _is_ at risk! And so is everyone else’s.” I stepped forward. “We’re sitting here, being protected by your brothers and my cousins, and we’re doing nothing to help them. If they fail, do you really think Gaea will decide Hades is too cold, and we can keep our mineral wealth and geomancers?”

Father shook his head. “If she’s fool enough to attack Hades, she deserves what she gets. She’ll waste her forces on the Erebus Range and the Acherusia Sea.”

“Gaea is the home of giants. The original Gaea was called the Mother of Giants. If the Atlas Range hasn’t discouraged her expansion plans, neither will the Erebus. And once the Neptunian Navy is defeated, her ally Keto’s forces will be unchecked. But that’s not the point.” My palms were sweating, and I clenched my fists to avoid dripping on the floor. “I know you don’t want to get Hades involved in this, but the fact is, we are. If we let Jupiter and Neptune fight alone, that means we’ve broken the oath that the Brothers took in the beginning, and the oath Hades took when the Empire was formed. Do you want us to be known as oathbreakers?”

“Emperor Jupiter has not yet requested our aid, save for shipments of Hadean metals and ores,” said my father.

“And he won’t ask, because you’re all such stubborn asses!” I shouted. “He never ‘requested’ the aid of Neptune, or of Duchess Athena. They just recognized what was in their best interests and sent fighters. Jovian soldiers are dying every day to protect the Empire.”

“And you want Hadean soldiers to die, too? Our highest oath is to our people, Nicolas.” Great, he was using my name. That was never a good sign.

“Our people want to fight.” I forced myself to breathe. “They do, Father. I’ve spoken to our people in Styx and Acheron and Dis. I’ve been among the Northern Tribes. They all see what’s happening, and they want to help. Cities and villages have lost young women to the Selenites, and we’re seeing more and more young people joining mercenary companies headed for the borders.” I held up my hands, showing the few marks I’d collected on my arms since coming of age, the pledged lives of those who’d sworn to defend Hades to their deaths and beyond. “We have to do this. We have to send our people, or they’ll lose faith in us. Our family has always carried the spirit of our people, even more than the other royal families. We can’t betray them. We can’t betray the dead we carry.”

Father was silent for a long moment, and I couldn’t identify the expression on his face. “My son, I would spare you the pain you will face if you join this war. And I would not lose you. I have already lost enough – your sister, your mother-”

Of course, Queen Persephone couldn’t let that stand, and she cut in for the first time. “You know I don’t ever want to hear about _that woman_ -”

This is where I lost it.

“Don’t you dare call my mother ‘that woman’ ever again! Don’t you _fucking_ dare!” Something had broken loose inside me. I’d just stood up to my father, and a dam had burst inside me. The air around me turned freezing, and the ground shook.

The queen turned her cold eyes on me. “Are you threatening me?”

“I am telling you. I’ve taken enough of your pettiness over the years-”

“You dare-”

“- and I refuse to take any more, you bitter, miserable hag!” Her face turned white, and I plunged on. “I’m sorry you’ve been so disappointed by your life and your marriage. I’m sorry for your pain, my queen, but I’m even more sorry that you could never reach into your cold, shriveled little heart and find even the tiniest bit of compassion for the children who never asked to be born into this freak show of a family! Maybe if you had, you wouldn’t be such a bitter, miserable hag!”

“That. Is. Enough.” My father’s voice cut through my rage. The floor stopped shaking with a suddenness that caused me to stumble, and I knew my father had used his own geomancy to cut my connection to the earth until I could control myself.

Queen Persephone took a deep breath, eyes blazing, and I feared what would come next. She wasn’t without her own magic. In the center of the room, with no convenient shadows to step into, I had no way to flee. She’d never physically harmed me – she’d settled for the aforementioned pettiness – but today was shaping up to have a lot of firsts.

“And you will control yourself as well, my wife,” snapped the king before she could do anything. “Nicolas is right that he’s taken the brunt of your misplaced anger for too long. It ends here and now. Not least for your own good.”

I fought my temper down. I was going to be leaving Hazel to the stony mercies of the queen, and I knew I had to show at least a little wisdom. “My queen, I apologize for my . . . ill-chosen words. I do not apologize for the meaning behind them, though. Whatever my father decides, I will be leaving to join my cousins at war, and I would ask, my queen, that you show what kindness you can to Hazel. My sister is a much better person than I am. She deserves to be appreciated for who she is.”

I wasn’t sure I’d made any impression on the queen, but my father’s face softened a little. “My son, I would spare you pain, but I fear you are right. Hades will join the war. There will be no conscription as yet; our armies will be composed of volunteers. From what you have said, there will be no shortage of those. If you are resolute about joining them, I will send you to Mars for training.”

I bowed to him. “My father, I thank you.” I bowed to the queen. “My queen.”

At the time, I thought it was a triumph.

***

The buzz didn’t last long. Or, it lasted right up to the point that Hazel started crying.

“Please don’t go,” she sobbed, clinging to me.

I held her close, heart breaking for her. “I have to do this, _sorellina_.” I used the Angelian term for “little sister” as an endearment, even as she called me “ _fré_ ,” the word for “brother” in her native Aphroditan creole.

“But why? If you go to war, you could . . . I can’t lose you, _fré_ , I can’t! I’ll be all alone!” She hugged me tighter. “Don’t go.”

“I made a promise,” I told her gently. “Hades can’t stay out of the war. I promised the people that I’d persuade Father to send our armies, and that I would join them. If I don’t keep my promise, I can’t be a prince anymore.”

I knew Hazel would understand that. Honor was as important to her as it was to me, maybe more. And she did quiet a little.

“I’m going to miss you,” she whispered.

“I’ll miss you, too. And I’m sorry I have to go. You won’t be alone, though.” I ran my fingers through her curls. “Gwen is here. You like Gwen, right?” Gwen was Hazel’s combat trainer, and Hazel hero-worshiped her. I liked and trusted Gwen with my sister, which I can’t say for a lot of people. “And some of the Hesperides are nice, aren’t they?” The Hesperides were the ladies-in-waiting for any Hadean princess, chosen largely based on their families’ importance. The majority were just in it for the prestige, but Hazel had a way of winning people over.

Hazel sniffled. “Y-yes.”

“It’s going to be okay, Hazel. I promise.” I kissed the top of her head. “Want me to drink some Styx water? Because I will.”

She gave a watery little laugh. “Not necessary. Just promise to write, okay? And . . . meet me in my dreams sometimes.”

“I will,” I said, and I intended to.

In truth, I hated leaving Hazel, but a few days later, with some ceremony, I did. My father presented me with a truly meaningful gift to take with me.

“For you, my son, a weapon worthy of a prince of Hades,” he said, and he held out to me a Stygian iron sword, black as a shadow. It was elegant in its simplicity; the only ornamentation was a skull-shaped pommel with ruby eyes. The leaf-shaped blade was perfectly balanced and honed to a razor-sharp edge. Very few Stygian iron weapons existed, as the process of creating them was long and exacting, and they could only be forged in the Necropolis. Historically, the majority of Stygian iron weapons had been made for royalty.

I accepted it with the solemnity such a gift deserved. “Thank you, Father. I will call it Shadow.” It was the first thing that had come to my mind when I saw it, and I instinctively felt it was the right name for the blade.

My eyes met my father’s, and I could see sadness in them. My father and I hadn’t had the easiest relationship, but in that moment, I understood that he loved me. He wanted to keep me safe.

“I’ll make you proud,” I promised.

A little bit of a smile eased into his proud, severe face. “My son, you already do.”

I felt tears sting my eyes and blinked them away as I stepped in front of Queen Persephone. I bowed to her. “My queen, I take my leave of you.”

She bowed formally. “Success go with you, Son of Hades.” It was a traditional goodbye from a mother to a soldier going to war. Part of me wanted to scream at her for using it, while the more sensible part informed me that it was exactly what she, as the queen, was supposed to say to the heir to the throne.

I pushed down my resentment and stepped just a little closer and lowered my voice. “My queen, I have never made a request of you before, but I make one now: be as kind as you can to Hazel. It will ease my mind while I’m at war to know that my sister is taken care of.”

Persephone’s cold mask gave nothing away, but after a moment, she inclined her head, acquiescing. Though she’d always resented both of us, me since I was born and Hazel since Father had revealed her existence, I knew her word was good. She was too proud to ever make promises she wouldn’t keep.

“Thank you, my queen.” I bowed to her again.

I moved on to Hazel, who was making a heroic effort not to cry. Her golden eyes shone with tears, but she wasn’t letting them fall.

I breached royal protocol by kissing her cheek. “I swear to you, I’ll return, _sorellina_.”

“I know you will, _fré_ ,” she whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I pressed my forehead against hers. “Courage.”

And then I walked away, not looking back.

***

It took almost a month to get to Mars. Along the way, our caravan picked up scores of recruits. Some of those closer to Mars had preceded us, and I knew that more would follow. Many more. Other caravans of recruits joined us as well, and soon, nearly two hundred Hadean soldiers crowded a set of ferries floating down a branch of the Acheron flowing through the Athabasca Valles, which would take us over the Hades/Mars border.

I met people on that trip who would turn out to be important to me. Devona and Lucia, a set of Angelian sisters, were among the first friends I made. Devona was the older of the two, tall, with striking features and a forceful personality. Lucia was younger and shy, but she’d already outgrown her older sister. Then there was Lord Alekos, son of Duke Acheron, whom I’d met before but hadn’t made much of an impression on me. It turned out his reticent, stoic personality masked considerable determination. Gregor and Lysander, a pair of cousins from the Nyx region, also made a favorable impression.

Probably the most intriguing pair was Atka and Quyana, a brother and sister from the Northern Tribes. They were quiet; in the manner of their people, they didn’t waste words. That alone made them restful to be around. It wasn’t the quiet of inactivity, though. It was the quiet of peace and purpose. 

Quyana had brought a piece of leather that she was slowly beading with things she found along the way – bits of wood, stone and bone, mainly, though a shattered glass wine bottle from a mishap one night generously donated a shard she polished into a bead. I found watching the process to be uniquely peaceful.

“What’s the pattern?” I asked her one time.

She gave me an enigmatic smile. “I’ll know when I know.”

I also asked Atka if there would be many coming from his tribe or nearby ones.

“Probably not,” he said, checking the shaft of his spear. It was tipped with the tooth of a Great Northern Leviathan; Quyana carried a similar one. They both carried daggers made of leviathan bone, which was harder than steel, too. “Most of the tribes believe we’ll never be affected by the war. Maybe they’re right. But my sister and I believe that’s no reason not to fight.”

“I think you’re right,” I said.

“On the other hand, you’ll see lots of us Angelians,” said Devona, coming over to sit with us. “Being one of the southern provinces of Hades has made us nervous.” She turned her dark eyes on me. “And having an Angelian prince heading to war has inspired some of us, too.”

That thought didn’t make me feel better, though. “I just hope I’ve done the right thing in convincing my father to send troops.”

“You have,” she said decisively. “Lucia and I would’ve left for a mercenary company, anyway, sooner or later. You’ve given us strength in numbers, and maybe we can help end this war. That will save lives.”

I trusted what she said. Devona hadn’t shown herself to be a flatterer; in fact, she was remarkably blunt. Besides, her Angelian accent was bringing back the distant memories I had of my mother. It hurt, but not in a way I wanted to stop.

Our company arrived in Mars the following day, and we were met by Martian soldiers and taken to the Campus Martius to train as an army. There was plenty of opportunity for combat in Hades, thanks largely to Hyperborean giants, rogue storm spirits and gryphons. Many towns and cities had small armed forces to protect them. However, it wasn’t the same as being in an army. I myself had had plenty of combat training in my life, but never as part of a military unit. I could hold my own with any of the others using a sword, but there was much more to being a soldier than that.

One of our trainers was a boy barely older than I was. Frank was Martian on his father’s side and Hadean on his mother’s, and as he explained, his family could be traced back to the first King Poseidon as well. It had left him with an interesting set of gifts, the most interesting of which was his ability to shapeshift.

“I’m not really very good at it,” he admitted, blushing, when I caught him practicing turning into a dog and back.

“It’s understandable,” I reassured him. “I once ended up in the Nordlands when I was learning how to shadow-travel.”

I liked Frank. He was shy and awkward off the field of battle, but on it, whether as a trainer or as a centurion in the war games, he was a force to be reckoned with. Because he was half Hadean, he was planning to leave the Martian army and join us when we shipped out. In spite of his youth, he’d been training for war almost all his life, and he’d already seen combat. We needed his experience, and I was glad to have him.

We trained for a month in Mars before about half of us, myself included, were deemed ready for real combat. More recruits were arriving every day to train with Jovian and Neptunian ground troops, and the Campus Martius, a city in its own right, was full to overflowing.

Though we trained in Mars, we Hadeans had our own martial traditions. One of them was our war paint. The day we left for the front, all of the soldiers in my newly-formed unit painted our faces white, with black around our eyes, under our cheekbones, and on our lips. Frank, as our captain, had a vertical red line bisecting his face. He’d chosen a few of us to be his lieutenants. I was one. I painted a red vee on my forehead, the lines coming together between my eyes.

I knew I’d been chosen to be an officer because I was a prince, and I was okay with it. My destiny was to rule my nation. I was to begin honing my leadership skills in the army.

The first night after we left Campus Martius, I shared a dream with my father. We were standing in the Necropolis together, watching the Angel Lights overhead. The lights were descending from the sky and moving faster, whirling into a vortex, and as I stood, unable to move, they fell upon me and were absorbed into my skin.

I looked at the new marks on my arms and turned to my father. “Shouldn’t they be yours?” I asked.

He shook his head sadly. “No, my son. You go to war now, and they must go with you.”

When I awoke in the morning, the marks on my arms were still there.

***

The first King Hades established his kingdom in the north, among the five rivers, the Erebus Range, the plains of Asphodel, and the treacherous, icy Hyperborean waste. There was great wealth and beauty in the land, but also great danger. Scarcely had the city of Styx been founded before Hyperborean giants attacked. Many great warriors died repelling them.

For a time, there was peace. But then the Hyperboreans returned, in even greater numbers. King Hades knew that his people could not survive long unless the gods themselves intervened, so he prayed to the Di Inferi, begging them to show him a way to preserve his people.

And they answered him.

 _You have many warriors who, though they have passed on to our realm, would fight for you again,_ they said.

 _But how,_ asked the king, _could the dead help us?_

 _They could return when you call upon them,_ said the Di Inferi. _There would, of course, be a cost . . ._

_To save my people, I will pay any cost,_ said the king.

 _Then the dead shall be yours to call upon only at great need,_ said the Di Inferi. _You will carry them with you. Their marks shall be upon your body. They will fight for you, but in return, you must bear their death agony._

The king bowed. _Let it be as you say._

***

There are rules, of course. There are always rules.

The first one is to be Worthy. The word deserves its capital. We’ve had Unworthy kings (and one queen) in Hades, mostly of the “hair-on-fire insane” variety, who could not carry the dead. The one I know of who wasn’t insane was just a selfish, cowardly asshole. To be Worthy, you have to put your people before yourself. You have to be willing to sacrifice your own life.

The second one is that only those who have pledged themselves to the sovereign will fight for Hades after they die. They must also be given funeral rites by the ruler or the heir to the throne, or receive their rites in the Necropolis. I had, by the time I joined the war, been regularly conducting funereal rites at the Necropolis since I was twelve.

The third rule is that no member of the royal family, including spouses, can be carried by the ruler. We have had warrior spouses and children of kings and queens in my line, but they died and passed on without being called upon after death.

The fourth rule is that they can only be called upon in extremity. If a living force is able to defeat their enemies, the dead will not join them. They cannot be called at any other time, save only for one: at Solstice, when we celebrate those who have passed on.

The fifth and final rule is that when they have completed their task and rejoined the sovereign or heir who called them, that sovereign or heir must, for a time, bear their pain. For what we gain, it’s considered a fair trade.

I certainly thought so, right up until I released the dead for the first time. My unit unexpectedly found itself in a battle against a force twice our size. At that point, I had perhaps a dozen dead at my call, but even aside from the fact that they can’t be killed – they’re already dead – they bring with them an aura of dread that saps the will from the enemy. I was elated at how quickly they brought the battle to an end. They seemed to increase my own strength; I never fought better than when they were fighting alongside me.

As soon as they weren’t needed anymore, I called them back to me. That’s when the pain hit. Every bone, every muscle, every organ in my body, felt like it was being torn apart. I thought it would kill me. Then I hoped it would. I fell into hallucinations that forced me to live through the deaths of those I carried with me. Ice cracked under me, and a freezing river carried me away. A schism of the heart took me in old age. A gryphon attacked, and its claws pierced my body and crushed my bones.

My unit tried to help. Eirek Sigurdsson, a Nordlands transplant to Hades, poured mead down my throat. It didn’t ease the pain, though it did increase the quality of my hallucinations. Quyana tried some nature magic. Devona bundled me up with a bunch of sun crystals when the cold inside me grew too great. Nothing worked to ease the pain, but knowing they cared enough to try . . . that gave me the strength to get through it. Eventually, I fell into exhausted sleep. When I awoke, Quyana was with me, working on her beading. Her calm, strong presence had always been soothing, and according to her, I only quieted when she stayed beside me.

Frank was shaken. “I had no idea what it would be like for you,” he said as he made me tea.

“I didn’t, either,” I admitted. “We’ll have to make sure I’m well away from the action before I call them back.”

It wasn’t all bad. The experience brought my unit closer together. They respected me more. And I felt anew my obligation to them and to the dead.

I rose through the ranks quickly after that, but my military career was briefly interrupted by a summons to the Emperor’s throne room to discuss what would later be known as the Octavian Affair. Octavian, a member of the Imperial Senate with a talent for augury, had been undermining the war effort. The details are too complex and dull to go into, but the upshot was that Emperor Jupiter needed to get Duchess Athena on his side as quickly as possible. Since Duchess Athena had a longstanding grudge against the Emperor, that was tricky. But if we didn’t, the war effort would be compromised, and with it, the safety of all Jovian lands.

Toward that end, I volunteered to accompany Captain Reyna of the Imperial Praetorian Guard to the Athenian capital in order to deliver a gift to the duchess. The gift was land that had been annexed by Jupiter generations ago, and the grudge had been passed down like a keepsake from duchess to duchess (males can’t inherit the duchy; I never bothered to find out why). A Neptunian attaché, a sylvan named Gleeson Hedge, went with us. The journey took us through a war zone, and we found out the hard way that Octavian had engaged some mercenaries to stop us.

They found out the hard way that the three of us weren’t easy to stop. Reyna was, by far, the most formidable person I’d ever met. Hedge, for all that he was a bit on the aged side even for a sylvan, wasn’t much less formidable. The three of us formed a bond that’s still hard for me to explain, and when the journey was over, Reyna and Hedge had become family to me.

In the end, the gift worked, and Duchess Athena made an appearance at the Imperial Senate that took the wind out of Octavian’s sails. After Duchess Athena gave her speech, I was made a full captain, and the Emperor, realizing it would be unfair to keep Reyna’s talents so close to home, made her a general. Sadly, it meant she was sent off with the Jovian army while I was given my own unit of Hadean soldiers. I handpicked them, and I chose Devona and Atka as my lieutenants. We were a light force, but quickly made a name for ourselves. The Prince’s Own, we were called.

They became my family. I grieved every time I had to perform funeral rites for them, and I gladly bore their pain when I released the dead.

The war ground on. Hazel, to my dismay, went to Neptune and trained with our newly-formed cavalry the moment she was old enough. I could hardly ask her to stay home, though, seeing as I’d gotten us into the war. Of course, then she met Frank, and the two of them fell in love. When she turned eighteen, they were betrothed.

I envied her finding love. I’d long since discovered the Paradox of Being Me.

My first lover was an Angelian named Gianluca. He was beautiful, and I fell madly in love with him, the way one does with their first lover. But my being the heir to the throne and his being a commoner eventually caused him to walk away from our relationship. Whatever he felt for me, he didn’t see himself as a fit match for a king.

I rebounded with the son of the Countess of Nyx. He didn’t have a problem with my being the prince. In fact, it was what he liked best about me. When I figured that out, somewhat belatedly, I was the one who walked away.

Hence the paradox: I wasn’t interested in a man who was after the title of Prince Consort of Hades. However, men who weren’t after the title of Prince Consort of Hades were scared off by it. 

Somewhere, there had to be a sweet spot. Hazel had found it with Frank. Prince Percy had found it with Lady Annabeth of Athena. Prince Jason had found it with Piper of House Aphrodite.

If I couldn’t find it, I wasn’t interested in getting married. Thanks to the prophecy that I would never have a child of my own body, I didn’t have to marry, anyway. Which wasn’t to say that every time I came home, or was forced to attend an Event at Queen Poseidon’s or Emperor Jupiter’s court, I didn’t get men thrown at me from all sides.

It was annoying, and I believed I’d never find that man who was both interested in Nico and not scared off by the Prince of Hades.

And then I met Will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Athabasca Valles is a place on Mars, the planet. I chose it because of the connection to the Athabaskan people of Alaska.
> 
> "Atka" refers to an Inuit guardian spirit, usually the most recent person in a family to die before a child's birth.
> 
> "Quyana" is a Central Yup'ik expression of gratitude. I learned it when I was a little girl growing up in Alaska, and I thought it would make a lovely name for the gentle, strong young woman I envisioned for this story.


	2. The Healer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico finds himself in a field hospital after being injured, and the head healer intrigues him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever! It took me a while to figure out how this chapter should go. For the details of Nico and Will's conversations in the Dreaming, read "Nico of the Angels." I felt like Nico's impressions were more important than the words they used, at least in this story.

I’d released the dead during a battle and was still recovering from the after-effects when my unit was ambushed. I was in no condition to fight, but I did my best right up to the point where I was stabbed multiple times.

That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was when I felt Devona die while trying to save me.

My unit fought the enemy soldiers off, but to the cost of Gregor’s life as well. He was still alive when I lost consciousness, but I knew he wasn’t going to make it. Later, I learned that my unit pooled their power and shadow-traveled us away to a field hospital. Shadow-travel isn’t an uncommon ability in Hadeans, but I was by far the best at it in my unit. I felt bad I wasn’t able to help, but they got us to safety.

For the royal family of Hades, unconsciousness isn’t the same as it is for ordinary people. We have abilities similar to the Dreamers of House Hypnos or House Morpheus. We can control our dreams and even communicate through them. It takes time to learn how to move through dreams, and a lot of discipline.

Being badly injured doesn’t help with that discipline, and in this case, it made my dream-self act with immediate hostility to any perceived threat. Even the sudden appearance of golden light and warmth set it off.

“Who are you?” I demanded of the interloper.

To his credit, the newcomer didn’t panic. “I’m a healer. I’m here to help you,” he said.

At that point, I had no idea where I was, so that was my next demand. “Where am I?”

“A field hospital,” he said, and I felt him trying to reach out to me, calm me. “My name is Will. What’s yours?”

He didn’t know? In spite of the fact that he was clearly not a threat, my dream-self remained wary. “Nico,” I told him. “I’m Nico.”

“Nico, you’re badly injured,” said Will, and the warmth and light he brought with him increased. I could feel the strength of it; he had to be a powerful healer. “I’m the strongest healer here. I need you to let me heal you. You can rest. The other healers are taking care of your soldiers. Let me heal you . . .”

Feeling suddenly weary beyond words, I let Will go, and I fell back into the slipstream of dreams.

***

The Dreaming is a way station for souls. Because the Hadean royal family is so intimately connected to the spirit world, I can draw strength from it, the same way Prince Percy draws strength from the ocean, or Prince Jason from stormy skies. Placing myself in a Dreaming state speeds the healing of my body. Since I was in a safe place, I allowed myself to settle into it.

It’s difficult to explain the passage of time in the Dreaming. A day inside may be a week outside, yet a part of me was still keeping time with the outside world. That part was connected to the lives that had been lost, that would need their funeral rites.

I took my dream-self to one of the places I loved the best, a balcony of the palace overlooking the Styx, with the mountains beyond. It was where Bianca and I had met to talk about our mother, and where Hazel and I later met to talk about things we didn’t want getting back to the queen. I felt peaceful there.

It didn’t take long for my peace to be disturbed, of course. My father was suddenly next to me.

“You’ve been injured,” he noted.

“We were ambushed. I’m at a field hospital now, recovering.” I thought about Healer Will from earlier. “And there appears to be a healer of no ordinary skill taking care of me.”

He looked at me searchingly. “There are more dead now.”

“That’s what happens in war.” I looked down at my arms. “Two more as of this little adventure. Including my lieutenant Devona.” I thought about her. “She was a good woman. Strong. Her sister Lucia will be heartbroken.”

“I hoped you would never experience the losses of war,” said my father. “A foolish hope, I know now, but you’d suffered enough losses in your life already.”

I looked at him. For so many years, he’d seemed as cold and stony as the throne room. I saw it for what it was, now; he was a man of deep feeling, and the pain of loss was as intense to him as it was to me. That was why he held himself apart.

I also realized that the same aversion to getting attached, born of the pain of loss, was present in me. He and I were more alike than either of us liked to believe. Nonetheless, I appreciated the moments when he betrayed his emotions.

“Grief is a part of love, and death is a part of life,” I said, paraphrasing a proverb frequently quoted in Hades. “This is a burden I bear gladly, Father.”

He looked out at the mountains. “If I meet your sister in the Dreaming, I’ll inform her of your whereabouts. You’re near the border of the Summerlands, unless I’m mistaken.”

Father was much better at ascertaining physical whereabouts from the Dreaming than I was. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Do. I will leave you to your Dreaming now, son, and perhaps we shall meet again soon.” With that, he disappeared.

Some time later, my Dreaming was interrupted again. This time, it was Healer Will.

I was intrigued. Initially, he seemed a little disoriented, but he got over that quickly. Mostly, he was curious, both about the Dreaming and about me. His appearance, his mental image of himself, was quite young. To me, he looked like a boy of fifteen or sixteen, not quite out of the awkward years, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a slim build.

Appearances are often deceptive in the Dreaming, though. For those of us who spend a lot of time there, our appearances in the Dreaming usually match our external appearances fairly closely. Those who wander in, however, generally haven’t had any reason to refine their internal image of themselves. For that reason, I paid little attention to what Will looked like.

Instead, I paid attention to what he felt like. The Dreaming is good for exposing inner selves. When you spend a lot of time there, you develop an instinct.

As I spoke to the healer, I could tell he was older than he looked, at least my age. He had a strong mind, remarkably so. That wasn’t unusual among healers, I knew; they had to have strong mental barriers. I’d never experienced a non-Dreamer who could adjust so quickly to the Dreaming, though. He didn’t have any trouble communicating with me.

Or flirting. I enjoyed that part. I could tell he was attracted to me, and not just because I was a prince.

You learn to pay attention to your intuition in the Dreaming, and mine was telling me that he was exactly as honest and open as he seemed. I guessed that he was a terrible liar and had a difficult time concealing his emotions. There was something deeply appealing about that. I value honesty, because as a prince, you see so little of it. It seemed like everyone in my orbit from the time I was young, save only for my sisters, hid things from me, either because they thought they were protecting me or because they were protecting themselves.

I’d chosen most of the Prince’s Own because I felt them to be honest. Devona, especially, had never hidden anything from me. I’d always valued her bluntness.

Here in the Dreaming, as the Angel Lights swirled overhead, I wondered if her soul was among them, and I felt a little guilty for flirting with Will and enjoying myself. I sent him back to his body and kept my lonely vigil.

Which didn’t stay lonely for long. Again. This time, Hazel popped in. She immediately hugged me tight. Physical contact is different in the Dreaming than it is in the waking world in a way I can’t explain, but it still felt good to hold my sister.

“Father told me where you were,” she told me. “I was so worried! I wasn’t too far, though, and Reyna had already heard about the ambush, so she’s here, too. So’s Frank. The hospital said their best healer is treating you and you’ll be all right. How are you feeling?”

Hazel tends to babble when she gets emotional. It’s charming.

“I’m not feeling too much, physically,” I said. “This is a pretty deep Dreaming, so I’m assuming my injuries are just as severe as they felt when I got them. What’s your impression of the hospital?”

“Hard to say. I was so intent on speaking with you that I didn’t notice much else.” She made a face. “You didn’t look good, I can tell you that.”

I gave her a wry grin, hoping to make her stop worrying. “Too bad. I want to know if the healer’s good-looking. Check him out and report back, okay?”

She laughed. “You’re impossible!”

Hazel stayed for a while longer, mostly to reassure herself that I was all right. Or, rather, as all right as I could be. It’s dangerous to stay in someone else’s Dreaming for too long, though; you can start to lose your sense of self. Eventually, she reluctantly drew away.

“Make sure they make the correct preparations for the funerals,” I told her. “Wake me on the morning of the third day so I can perform the rites.”

“I will,” she promised.

“Look after my unit, too, especially Lucia. I have no doubt she’s devastated right now. They all need you.”

“Of course.”

“And do be sure to tell me if Healer Will’s pretty, too. That’s important.”

“Impossible!”

She left, and I settled back into my Dreaming.

***

Hazel dutifully informed me, the following day, that William Solace of House Apollo was, indeed, pretty. “He has an amazing smile, pure sunshine. I’d say he’s maybe a year or two older than you, and everyone here says he’s the best healer you could hope to have looking after you. I like him.”

That was good to know, especially when he stumbled into my Dreaming again. This time, I got even more curious and asked him to show me his memories. It only took a small push from me for him to take us to Delos. Again, I was intrigued by his facility with Dreaming. I’d never interacted with a healer in this way, so I didn’t know if it was something they could all do, or just him.

I had never been to Delos, but I felt like I knew it just from Will’s memories. The Apolline Range was small and gentle next to the rugged peaks of the Erebus Range, and I had some fun teasing Will over it, but it seemed peaceful and warm.

The great manor house was much the same. It was painted in shades of yellow, orange and red, and flowering vines crawled up the sides and clung to windows and balconies. Where Will and I stood, we had a perfect view of its gardens, too.

They were laid out in the shape of a sun. The innermost blooms were deep red, clustered around a golden statue of an archer, his arrow tipped with a sun crystal. From there, the colors faded through values of orange and yellow, and the final outline of the sun-shape was white.

Looking at it, I was reminded of the Pythia’s prophecies at my birth. Each royal child receives three prophecies. Mine said that I would be “conscience to the king,” that I would never have a child of my own body, and that I would find my place “in the sun.”

I knew some of the Hadean Court had decided I’d fulfilled the first one by badgering my father into joining the war. The second one freed me from being forced, against my natural inclination, to marry a woman. (Nothing against women, but I don’t have any desire to ever bed one.) As for the third, there were many guesses, none of which made much sense to me.

I looked over at Will and thought about what he’d told me about his childhood. Like me, he’d lost a parent. Unlike me, he hadn’t been lonely. He’d had foster siblings and a new father figure in Lord Apollo. In many ways, he’d been lucky.

But he’d also had losses, and I could see them in his soul. I wondered what they were. More than that, I wondered how he’d managed to keep the gentle light that shone out of him, like the sun. The warmth I felt had nothing to do with the sun-drenched landscape conjured from Will’s memory; the warmth was coming from him.

I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know everything. And it was more than a little terrifying. Attraction was nothing unusual for me; I chose my lovers (when I had time and energy for them, which hadn’t been the case for longer than I liked to think about recently) on the basis of attraction and a mutual desire to have fun and go our separate ways. But I felt instinctively that Will was just the sort of man I could get attached to.

I don’t do attachment. I sent him away again, and almost immediately missed him.

***

“Time to wake up, brother.”

Hazel’s voice triggered the process of surfacing from the Dreaming. Imagine waking from the deepest sleep you’ve ever had. Now imagine that only gets you to the point of regular sleep. I pulled myself slowly upward through layers of consciousness until finally, I felt my body around me again, and I opened my eyes to see Hazel’s face.

Her face was welcome; my body was not. The Dreaming had helped to heal me, but I’d taken severe wounds, and they hurt. Hazel and a tall, dark-skinned young man named Austin helped me to sit up and see to some very basic bodily needs. My muscles felt like half-melted wax. Even getting dressed left me breathing hard and sweating.

But this was my duty, my promise to the friends who’d entrusted me with their lives and deaths. I endured the pain and exhaustion gladly.

As Hazel painted my face, I meditated, sinking into a sort of trance. I noticed very little of the world around me aside from a vague indication of movement and a murmur of sound. For this ritual, I needed to be focused on the spirit world, not the physical.

Once I was ready, we walked together to the hospital morgue. I had some awareness that we weren’t alone, but that didn’t matter. What did matter were the bodies in the morgue, and the mourners around them.

Lucia stood by her sister’s body, but she stood aside as I approached. I stepped up to the bier and exposed Devona’s face.

As I anointed her and recited the funeral prayer, I thought about my lieutenant. I thought about her courage, her loyalty, her sense of humor, her friendship. She was someone who could never be replaced, not as a friend, not as a soldier, not as a sister. I concentrated on the person she was, and soon, I saw her soul, waiting for me.

At that, I folded down her cloak again, and I plunged my ritual dagger into her heart. Her body dissolved into dust, and I felt it settle into my skin, a slightly unpleasant prickly, crawling sensation.

I went to Gregor next. He was a big man with a big heart who’d been known to amuse war orphans with silly songs and conjuring tricks. In battle, he was fearsome; among friends, he was warm and kind. I anointed and blessed him, and then I collected his soul.

I carefully folded both cloaks, giving Devona’s to Lucia and Gregor’s to his cousin Lysander. I promised them that their loved ones would be safe with me. A Hadean ruler takes on a great responsibility with souls. As long as I remained Worthy, they would remain with me, and upon my death would accompany me to the Isles of the Blessed. However, if I were to fail in my responsibilities to my people, the souls would abandon me, and they would have to enter the Underworld on their own.

The ritual over, I let myself sink back into my body. Doing the rites had utterly depleted me, and I swayed as I tried to stay upright. Strong arms caught me, braced me against a warm body. I looked up and realized who was supporting me, even though I hadn’t seen him in the flesh before.

He was blond and blue-eyed, like Jason, but that was where the similarities ended. Will’s coloring was softer; his hair was the color of wheat, his eyes sky blue rather than electric. His face, too, was softer than Jason’s, though just as handsome, in its way. In the Dreaming, Will’s face had been that of a boy; now, it was a man’s face, reflecting the experience of sorrow and responsibility. He looked at me with gentle concern, and I knew my estimation of him in the Dreaming, of the depth of his character, had been, if anything, inadequate.

“So, that’s what you look like in the waking world,” I heard myself say, and then the world went dark.

***

When I woke later in the day, I felt well enough to get out of bed briefly, with the help of a nurse, and have a wash. I was ravenous as well; I hadn’t had solid food since I’d been wounded. They brought me porridge and tea to start with, but when I persisted in being hungry an hour later, my second breakfast was sausages and eggs. I ate every bit of it.

Once my breakfast was dispatched, I turned my attention to the screen blocking me off from the rest of the ward. Annoyed, I flagged down a healer, a young woman with curly brown hair and serious eyebrows.

“Your Highness?” she inquired.

“What’s this screen doing here?” I asked.

Her eyes flicked to it and back to me. “We have no private rooms available right now, and we thought you might want the privacy.”

It angered me. “Take it away,” I ordered. “These are my people. I don’t want them blocked off from me.”

The healer looked a bit piqued, but did as I asked. “Is there anything else you need, Your Highness?”

“No. You may go.”

The serious eyebrows raised. “Thank you _so_ much for your leave, Your Highness. And my name is Victoria, thanks for asking. I’m here to serve.” She walked away, somehow managing to communicate her disapproval with her back. I was impressed.

Hazel entered the ward a short time later and sat down to talk with me. She updated me on a few things I’d missed while I’d been unconscious.

“Frank took them back to our southern base,” she said, explaining where the remainder of my unit was. “He has them on light duty, close-range patrols and such. They should be well-rested by the time you rejoin them.”

“They deserve the break.” I took her hand. “You’ll have to rejoin your unit soon, too, won’t you?”

Her eyes dropped. “Yes, I’ll actually be leaving today. I was able to take time off for the funeral rites, but that’s all.”

She had to leave, and I knew that, but . . . “I’ll miss you. It’s been good having you here, even for a short time, though.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” She gave me a sweet smile. “I wish we could see each other more. I wish I could see Frank more, too.” Her eyes glistened a little. “I hate being so far away from him. Our wedding’s still months away. I wish we could speed it up.”

I squeezed her hand. “Royal protocol. Everyone has to be able to come to the wedding of a royal, or it’ll all end in diplomatic crises.”

“I know, I know,” she sighed. “I just . . . I worry about him. He’s always leading battles. If anything were to happen to him . . .”

I sought to reassure her, knowing how much this weighed on her mind. My father and I have a death sense; we know when death is near for someone. In this case, at least, it was good news. “It won’t. I know he still has years ahead of him. I _know_ it, Hazel. You’ll get married and pop out an heir for me. At least one. Try for four or five; we’ve had enough succession crises.”

Hazel would never be queen. That much had been decided within our family. For her to ascend to the throne would invite too many questions about her origins, and with the prejudice against witches, we couldn’t afford that. Instead, when she had her first child, she would, in essence, declare that child to be heir to the throne in her place. She might hold the throne temporarily as a regent, but that was all. It wasn’t without precedent in Hadean history, especially when the line for the throne wasn’t a straight one.

At least I succeeded in getting a damp little laugh out of her. Of course, then she had to go and remind me, “You need a consort, too, you know. You can’t keep running suitors off.”

“Watch me,” I grumbled. The Paradox of Being Me came to mind again. I had no use for men who were only after a title.

“Come on. There must be someone out there for you.” She grinned. “You know, that healer’s awfully handsome, and he even stood up to you in the Dreaming. He’s a ward of Lord Apollo, and you know we can always use sun crystals, so Father would agree to the match just for the trading agreement . . .”

Hazel had always been perceptive enough to pick up on when I was attracted to someone. I sincerely doubted someone as sunny as Will Solace would put up with me for long, though. I tried to brush it off. “He’s a healer. I’m, for lack of a better word, me. He wouldn’t be interested. The ritual this morning probably made him all the more eager to be rid of me.”

Of course, Hazel didn’t give up that easily. “Don’t be so sure. He seems intrigued.”

I gave her a Look. “Well, okay, you’ve convinced me. Next time I see him, I’ll propose marriage, right then and there.” In truth, I was oddly happy to hear that Hazel thought Will was intrigued rather than put off; she was much better at picking up on people’s emotions than I was.

She thumped me. “You’re impossible, you know that? You’re as crotchety as Lord Chancellor Geras.”

I had to laugh. Lord Chancellor Geras had been our favorite target for pranks when we were younger, simply because he was so grouchy. “Lord Chancellor Geras was born old. He came out of the womb complaining that being born was so much better in the old days.”

“I wouldn't doubt it at all,” Hazel said, laughing along with me.

Will Solace entered just then, and I was able to get a better look at him. He really was handsome. His features had a nice balance. His jaw was a little wide, but his eyes were wide-set as well, and it gave his face an appealing openness that I felt reflected his true personality. 

I noticed that his hair was a little longer than most Jovian men wore theirs. It was messy, like Percy’s, and one stubborn cowlick insisted on dropping a curl right between his eyes. Unlike Jovians, most Hadean men wore their hair long. Frank was a notable exception due to his Martian heritage; he kept his almost shaved. I wondered if Will’s hair was a personal style statement or if getting haircuts was simply not a priority for a busy healer.

In height, Will was shorter than Jason, but I thought he might be slightly taller than Percy. He seemed to have a nice build under his robes, too. If he’d grown up in House Apollo, he’d have learned archery as soon as he could hold a bow, and that usually added up to well-built shoulders and arms.

Hazel was the one to greet him, slipping seamlessly out of her native Trivium accent and into the perfect High Hadean accent that had been drilled into her as a child. “Hello, Will,” she said. “Do you need to talk to my brother alone?”

He shook his head. “That’s not necessary. I just need to check how he’s doing.”

I offered him one of my hands without his asking. He took it, sitting down on the chair beside my bed, and closed his eyes, concentrating. I was distracted by the fact that taking his hand had sent a lightning bolt up my arm. I’d felt a connection with him in the Dreaming, but I somehow hadn’t expected it to be so strong in the waking world.

He opened his eyes, and I realized I was staring at him in no small way. I attempted to be casual. “So, how am I doing, healer?”

“I think you’ll probably be able to leave in a few days,” he said, releasing my hand, and gave me a curious look. “Can I ask you something?”

I braced myself. “Of course.”

“What you said when you saw me, about what I look like in the waking world – do I look different in the Dreaming?”

The question took me by surprise, and I groped for an answer. It turned out that he’d lost his two older foster brothers at the age he seemed to be in the Dreaming. It made sense, then. When that happened, his mental image of himself fossilized. Will found it hard to think of himself as now being older than his brothers ever got. Such things aren’t uncommon. He’d even become a combat medic, making himself over in their image.

His excellence had ultimately called him higher, though. To be head of a combat hospital at his age was a great honor. The war had cost us many of our great warriors, and generals seemed to be getting younger by the day, but there was no shortage of older healers. I complimented him on his healing prowess.

For some reason, Hazel chose that moment to announce, “I’m afraid it’s time for me to go. I’m leaving with the troop transport today. Will, I’m glad you’ll be here to take care of my brother.” She leaned down to kiss me goodbye and switched to the Old Tongue. “I like this one. Try to be nice.”

“Who’s impossible now?” I asked. She giggled and left, giving a not-well-hidden wink to Will as she left. Gods below . . .

She was scarcely gone when a loud noise forestalled my plan to flirt with Will again. He stormed outside, where there appeared to be some ruckus and a lot of voices speaking Hephaestian. Reyna is from the island of Bellona, where they speak a similar dialect, so I could speak some Hephaestian. It’s not that different from Angelian, actually. What I heard was mainly engineering talk and swearing.

The original Lord Hephaestus was a brilliant craftsman. He forged weapons that could still be used to this day. For his service to the first King Zeus, he was made a baron and given his own lands. His descendants have always prided themselves on their craftsmanship as well; the best weapons and devices come from Hephaestian smiths. The Neptunian monarch inevitably has a Hephaestian Master of Devices. The current one was a brilliant, yet exasperating, bastard son of Baron Hephaestus named Leo Valdez, whose voice I could hear somewhere in the chaos.

Will came back in a few minutes later, shaking his head.

“What’s happened?” I asked.

“Leo Valdez, that’s what,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Apparently, there have been some attacks on field hospitals, so the brass has decided the _obvious_ solution is a bunch of siege engines. I’m really looking forward to all the noise and disruption.”

I couldn’t help but be amused at his disgruntlement. He was sassy when annoyed, and I liked it.

I also liked what I saw as he made the rounds of the ward. He stopped by each one of my people, checking their injuries and talking to them, his voice gentle and calm. When he gave orders to the healers and nurses on his staff, it was with no less authority than a general on the field of battle.

Eventually, he left the ward, no doubt to see to his other patients. Other healers and nurses came through the ward over the course of the rest of the day, but I didn’t see him again.

I did see Leo, though. I have nothing against Leo personally, but . . . let’s just say it’s hard to hold a conversation with someone who can’t stop tinkering for thirty seconds together. We were long-term acquaintances, if not quite friends. Not only was he Queen Poseidon’s Master of Devices, he was one of Prince Jason’s oldest friends. I wasn’t clear on the sequence of events that led to a Neptunian baron’s bastard and the Imperial Crown Prince becoming so close. On the other hand, I didn’t care very much.

I also knew that his paramour was a witch. Hazel remembered Calypso from her childhood; Calypso was a few years older than her, but they’d been friends. I didn’t know if Leo knew about Hazel’s origins, and it seemed like a bad idea to feel him out on that issue.

“Hey, Nico. _Que pasa_?” was how he greeted me. Leo never stood on ceremony, which was a characteristic I could respect.

“I’m recovering from nearly being gutted like a pig,” I said.

“Sounds fun!” Leo, true to form, was fiddling with a bronze contraption as we spoke.

I needed to know something. “Leo, about these attacks on hospitals . . .”

“Yeah, it’s happened twice so far to field hospitals a little closer to the action. The brass is worried, so they’re sending reinforcements. We’re setting up some siege engines, and there’ll be some troops here later.” Something went _ping!_ , and Leo was forced to chase down a small gear.

When he got back, I gave him the full force of my best stare. Having no color in my eyes made it all the more unnerving, I knew. “Leo, be straight with me: would you be here if I weren’t?”

He looked up at me, dark eyes sparkling. “It’s possible your hospital is getting a bit of extra attention, yes.” He pushed something into place, and the strange device began to whir. “But we’re putting extra security on all the field hospitals. Yours is just getting it first.”

I understood the reasoning – you can’t have a crown prince in unnecessary danger – but I still felt guilty for possibly taking attention away from others who needed it. At least my presence would safeguard the healers and patients here. Including Will.

I was just considering asking Leo how he knew Will when there was a thump on the roof, a crash, a scream, and one of Leo’s engineers came tumbling down into the courtyard.

“Aww, shit, not Jake again!” Leo bolted out of the ward, and a small herd of healers descended as well. The unfortunate Jake was carted off to the operating room, and I was alone with my thoughts.

***

That night, I was awakened by the sound of soft sobs and a lullaby. I craned my neck to see, and saw Lucia crying in the arms of a blond woman, who was stroking her back and singing to her softly. I didn’t recognize the lullaby, but the blond woman’s voice was beautiful, warm and somehow golden.

My heart ached for Lucia. Devona had been her only family, and now she was alone in the world. Alone, save for the Prince’s Own. There were, I realized, eight of us still here, including myself and Lucia. Atka, Lysander, Phaedra, Alekos, Chryseis and Demetrios were all sleeping in beds around the ward. 

“Lucia,” I called. “Lucia, little sister, is there any way I can help?” I spoke in Angelian, the birth tongue we shared.

Lucia’s breath hitched as she lifted her head from the blond woman’s shoulder. The two of them spoke quietly for a moment, and then the blond woman helped Lucia to her feet. Lucia’s left arm was bandaged and in a sling, and she limped on her left leg as the woman helped her walk over to my bedside, where she sat in a chair.

“Thank you,” I said to the blond woman. “What is your name?”

She gave me a gentle, sunshine-filled smile that was somehow familiar. “I’m Naomi Solace, Your Highness, and it’s a privilege to meet you.”

“Solace? As in Will Solace, the healer?” I asked.

Her smile turned up a notch, filled with pride. “He’s my boy.” Her eyes flicked to Lucia. “I’ll be close by if you need me, dear.”

“Thank you,” said Lucia, and Naomi withdrew.

I laid my hand over Lucia’s, and I switched back to Angelian to speak with her. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to help you through this.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault, Nico. We both knew the risks when we enlisted. I miss Dev, I miss her terribly, but . . .” She brushed her fingers over Devona’s mark on my skin, finding it effortlessly. “She believed in this fight. She believed in you. And so do I.”

Such faith is a great burden, one I could never pass to another, and that I would never wish to. “How are you feeling?”

“Bruised.” Lucia gave a short laugh. “A giant kicked me. The healers said that without my shield, I’d never have survived. My shield certainly didn’t. I’ll have to get a new one at the base.” She indicated the others with a nod. “Atka nearly lost a leg, Chryseis took a sword to the gut, Lysander has broken ribs . . . it’s a good thing the healers here are so skilled. The only reason Atka will be able to walk again is the head healer. They say he brought you back from the brink, too. He’s been kind, as has his mother.”

“Good. I heard from Hazel that the others have gone back to base.”

“Yes. General Frank took the ones who were able to leave with him a few days ago.” Lucia looked down. “I-I’m glad more of us weren’t hurt, but . . . why did it have to be Dev?” A tear ran down her cheek.

“Because she was brave. Because she looked out for everyone and wouldn’t let anyone face a danger she couldn’t.” I squeezed Lucia’s hand. “But I suspect your real question has no answer. Thanatos came for her, like he comes for all of us, in the end.”

Lucia’s tear fell on my hand. “I’m afraid that’s not much comfort right now.”

I thought back to my mother, to Bianca, to all the friends I’d lost. “No. It isn’t.”


	3. Battle for the Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico's flirting with Will gets rudely interrupted by the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. It just would not come together. I hope to get the next chapter out next week.

The next morning, Naomi Solace delivered my breakfast and a hot cloth to wash my hands with.

“Thank you for comforting Lucia last night,” I said as she helped me sit up.

She shook her head as if brushing off my thanks. “I know what it’s like to lose the person you love most in the world, Your Highness.”

“Will’s father?”

Naomi glanced up at me. Her eyes were hazel, unlike Will’s, but other than that, they looked a great deal alike. She had the same face shape and wavy blond hair.

“Yes,” she said. “Lester joined one of the first companies out of the Apolline region. He was a healer, so he became a medic. Phoebus – he’s Lord Apollo now – and Lester became great friends.” She sighed. “And after one skirmish, even though Lester was badly wounded himself, he made the choice to save Phoebus’s life.”

“He had to use his own life force,” I deduced.

Naomi nodded. Her grief was an old one, but I could tell she still missed her husband. “He did. When I heard . . . if I hadn’t had Will to take care of, I’m not sure what I’d have done. When you’re a mother, though, you can’t afford to fall apart. And Phoebus was very kind to us in gratitude for Lester’s sacrifice. We’ve never had to worry about anything, and Will got the opportunity to be mentored by some of the finest healers in the Empire. He’s done well for himself, don’t you think?”

I could agree with that. “He has. You must be proud.”

“Oh, I’m definitely that. I volunteered to be a nurse here in order to stay close to him, but I’m always amazed to see how much he’s accomplished.”

She had that proud-mother smile, and it suddenly made me long for my own mother. My memories of her were dim, but I still felt her loss. It made me want to talk to Naomi a little longer. “I understand you were a troubadour?”

“That I was.” She fluffed one of my pillows and placed it behind my back to help me stay in a sitting position. “I haven’t been able to do much performing since the war heated up, of course. I pray for peace every day. Will has hardly known a world without this war, and he deserves better than that. You all do.” She drew back a little. “I have other duties to attend to, but . . . it’s been nice talking with you, Prince Nicolas.”

“For me as well.” I offered her my hand, which she took. “Thank you for your time, Lady Solace.”

She laughed, a sound as warm as her native Summerlands. “Lester’s knighthood was post-mortem. I don’t get a title other than ‘The Honorable,’ and I don’t really care if anyone uses it or not.” Naomi curtseyed gracefully. “I hope I’ll see you later, Your Highness.”

“Nico,” I corrected her. “I don’t really care about my title, either.

She laughed again, and then she left.

***

Come afternoon, I was bored. Lysander, Phaedra and Demetrios were well enough that the healers wanted them to move around a little, so they had gone on a walk. Another healer had taken Atka away for a healing session. Chryseis was still having difficulty; her wound had gone bad, and she’d had to have a healing session of her own with Will. Now, she was asleep. Lucia was also having a lie-in after her emotional night. Alekos was writing letters and refused to amuse me, even when I pelted him with small objects.

“Make your own entertainment, Your Highness,” he said, and threw in a rude gesture for good measure.

Diversion finally came in the handsome form of Will Solace. I complained at him about the dullness of lying in a recovery ward, and he offered to play petteia with me. I accepted the challenge, purposely flirting a little, and was rewarded with the loveliest blush. He fetched the game, and we began playing.

“I once accepted a challenge from Lady Annabeth,” he confessed. “It did not go well for me. At all.”

I’d once made the same mistake. Never again. “No one plays Annabeth anymore. Reyna is the only person I know who’s even come close to beating her.”

He asked me about my relationship with Reyna then, and I told him a little about my quest with her as we played. He wasn’t a bad player, but I beat him without much trouble. Playing against Reyna had taught me all the tricks I needed to know.

Mostly, I enjoyed watching his face. Will really was an open book. Every emotion he had was reflected in his expressions. In that way, he reminded me of Hazel. Only male. And hot. And not related to me.

Even Hazel, though, had been forced to learn guile in order to survive in our complex mess of a family. I got the feeling Will never had. And the way he kept glancing at me nervously said he had a question he feared I might not like.

“Spit it out,” I finally said. He looked surprised at being caught out. “You want to ask about something. I can tell. Spit it out.”

He hesitated another moment before spitting it out. “I, um, overheard you and Hazel speaking yesterday. Just briefly. I noticed her accent and thought I recognized it. Then, when I met Leo and Calypso yesterday, I realized where I’d heard it before.”

He was an open book. That didn’t mean he wasn’t smart and observant. He’d discovered a secret my family had kept safe for almost two decades. I quietly cursed myself for not stopping Hazel from using her native accent in a place where others might overhear. I didn’t think Will would be unwise with the information he had, but I had to be sure.

“That’s a very dangerous secret you’ve stumbled upon, healer,” I finally said. “If I thought you couldn’t be trusted with it . . . I would have to protect my sister.”

He flushed deeply and quickly promised, “I won’t tell anyone, even my mother,” I promised. “I swear it, I won’t.”

I believed him. It wasn’t in Will to be false about anything. And I could’ve left it there, but I didn’t. Instead, I told him all about Hazel’s parentage and her entry into my life. In a way, it felt good to unburden myself to someone I knew wouldn’t judge her or me.

Again, Will’s face reflected every emotion. His entire attention was focused on me. Not the Prince of Hades, but me, Nico. I wondered if it was simply a skill of his to make everyone feel like they mattered to him, or if there was truly something growing between us. It was possible that both were true.

I found myself wanting to brush that cowlick off of his forehead. I wanted to learn if his skin was as warm as it looked, and if his lips really were that soft. Most of all, I wanted to know him, to learn his body and soul.

The conversation shifted to him telling me a little more about growing up at Delos. Before we could get too deeply into that, though, Victoria interrupted us with a message from the resident Dreamer, Clovis. I knew Clovis a little; he’d pulled me into his Dreaming a time or two, always accidentally. Will left, much to my annoyance, and I was left to settle into boredom again.

But not for long. A short while after he left, Will came blazing back in, a cadre of healers with him.

“Gaea’s soldiers are headed this way,” he announced. “We’re evacuating all of the patients we can. We have called for help, and hopefully, it will be here soon. In the meantime, the engineers and some of the hospital staff will remain here to cover the evacuation. Those of you who are able to walk, please report to the first ward. We’ll load our carts with everyone else who can be moved.”

He turned to me. “Your Highness, Austin will help you to one of the carts.”

“No,” I said.

He blinked as if he thought he hadn’t heard me correctly. “Nico, there’s an attack headed this way. You’re well enough to move, and you’re the heir to the throne of Hades. I can’t let you stay.”

I decided to make myself clear. “I’m not asking permission, Will. I’m informing you that I’m not leaving. There are still Hadeans here. They’re my responsibility. And you and your staff saved my life. I’m not abandoning you.” I showed him the soul marks on my arms. “I can call upon the dead to protect us. It’ll give us a chance until reinforcements arrive.”

“And how much will it cost you to call upon the dead?”

Damn. I reminded myself that Will was both observant and intelligent. I stuck to my decision, though. “Not so much that I won’t use what I have to defend this place.”

When I got out of bed to collect my weapons and armor, though, it was evident my body had other ideas. I was still in a lot of pain; the injuries I’d taken inhibited my movement. I knew that I was risking my own life more than usually by fighting this battle, but there was still no way I was leaving Will and the healers to shield me as I retreated.

Will’s next words startled me. “Okay,” he conceded. “I won’t fight you. But first, take off your shirt and lie down.” It was my turn to question whether I’d heard him correctly. I knew we shared an attraction, but this was hardly the time. “I’m serious. If you’re going to do this, I’m going to finish healing you, first.”

Oh. I was a little disappointed that my dirty mind had led me astray.

“You’ll need your strength if there are more casualties,” I said. “I won’t let you deplete yourself for me.”

“I’m not asking permission, Nico,” said Will, returning my own words to me. “And it looks like neither of us is getting all we want today. Off with the shirt, and lie down.”

Damn, he was hot when he got bossy. I could tell I wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of this, so I obeyed.

Will’s hands were intensely warm when they touched my skin. He closed his eyes and began to hum. I knew it was a focusing technique, the same as a word or a gesture might be for other magic users.

The heat from Will’s hands sank into my belly, taking away the pain and soreness. I watched his face, fascinated, as he healed me. The power he was displaying was beyond any healer I’d encountered before. In time, as his power matured, he would be one of the great healers of his generation, like Master Asclepius or Master Chiron. Power like his usually flowed in noble blood.

He was a puzzle, and more than anything, that attracted me.

When Will finally opened his eyes, he caught me staring. “You really are a powerful healer,” I said. “Do you feel pain when you do it?” I knew some very strong healers did.

A gentle look passed over his face as he nodded. He didn’t want me to feel sorry for him, and I didn’t. There was no reason to pity Will; he was too strong for that. “Of course,” he answered. “But it’s not mine, so it’s bearable.”

It was the same thing that made feeling the death agony of the souls I carried bearable. Perhaps he and I had something in common after all.

A red-haired Apolline girl, one of the nurses, came running in. “Will! We’ve spotted something on the horizon.”

Will stood, a little unsteadily. “Okay. Take all the archers we have and put them on the roof. We can at least cover the evacuees’ retreat.”

Naomi had come up behind Will as he spoke to the girl. “Where do you want me?”

Will whipped around, looking appalled. “With the evacuees! You were supposed to _leave_ , Mama!”

Naomi’s features set in an expression of motherly stubbornness. Will wasn’t going to win this fight. “Not while my only child is here,” she said. “Tell you what, I’ll go cut bandages.”

The red-headed nurse and I both laughed at Will’s expression. He glared at us both and left, and I got up and began to ready myself for battle. There was no pain or stiffness at all as I put on my armor, plaited my hair and painted my face. Around the room, I could see my friends doing the same, except for Chryseis, who was still sleeping. She was one of those who wasn’t well enough to move, and I refused to abandon her. Neither would the others.

“Alekos, how does your leg feel?” I asked him. He’d needed a sword wound sewn up.

“Good. The salve they use here is damn near miraculous,” he said.

I could see he was moving well. I briefly polled the rest of them, taking into account that they all wanted to be in on the action. In the end, I decided Lucia and Atka should be rear-guard defense only, since they’d taken the most serious wounds outside of myself and Chryseis. The rest were well enough for battle, though I didn’t like it. It was their choice, though, and I would have been wrong to try to dissuade them. I would be out front, with the dead alongside me.

As we were discussing a plan of attack, a young man wearing Jovian armor interrupted us.

“My name is Justin, Your Highness,” he said, bowing. “There are a number of us who have decided to help defend the hospital. As you’re the ranking officer here, we’re willing to place ourselves under your command.”

His expression was earnest as only a Jovian’s can be. I had to smile, and I nodded. “Bring them in, then. We’ll see if we can’t hold off Gaea’s forces until help arrives.”

Soon, our small force of Hadeans, Jovians, Neptunians, and even a couple of Selenites, stood in the courtyard with Leo and his engineers. Hephaestian war machines could do a lot of damage, though it was too much to hope that they could stop the enemy forces alone.

“Our range is a lot better than theirs,” said Leo. “We can land at least a few volleys before they’re able to strike back. And I’m holding Festus in reserve.” He grinned, fire seeming to crackle in his eyes. “I’m hoping to give them a nasty surprise.”

“I’m hoping the same,” I said, reflecting Leo’s smile back at him.

Kayla, the red-haired little nurse, was kitted out in light armor and had a longbow. She was in charge of the archers. “We’ll do our best to cover you from the roof. If we can’t out-shoot them, we don’t deserve to be Apolline.”

“I might be able to do something about the trajectory of their arrows, too,” said a voice with a hauntingly familiar accent. Calypso, Leo’s lover, approached. She was dressed in black and green, the colors of the Trivium. “I’ve always worked well with air spirits.”

No wonder Will had figured out where Hazel was from so easily. I didn’t spend a lot of time with the witches, and hearing what could have been my sister’s voice coming out of someone else came as a shock. Calypso gave no sign that she expected a reaction from me; evidently, she didn’t think now was the time to discuss Hazel’s origins. I fully agreed with her on that.

The little hospital cohort slowly took shape. Two Selenites, Phoebe and Cressida, joined the archers on the roof. Leo and his engineers calibrated all of the war machines, keeping a careful eye on the approaching horde. The less-able among the soldiers were reserved as a last-ditch backup to cover the evacuation if all else failed.

Will was present through part of this. He’d put on light armor and looked every inch the combat medic. The remaining healers took their orders from him. He had a commanding presence, I realized. He was a born leader, at least when it came to healers. As everyone else grew edgy, he remained, to all observation, calm and confident.

The approaching horde wasn’t enormous. It was more than enough to wipe the little hospital off the face of the earth, though. Even with Leo’s war machines and the dead I could call on, we didn’t have much of a chance. The objective was to hold them off until help got here, or at the very least give time for the evacuees to get away.

The moment they were in range, Leo gave Gaea’s horde a volley from the war machines. While they caused some impressive damage, it wouldn’t be enough.

“We’ll be within their weapons range soon,” I told Will.

He nodded, still rock-steady and determined. “Well, we’ve got a building to retreat into, if need be.”

“Do so. I’m not going to pull my surprise until the last minute.” I watched as the siege engines sent another volley at the opposing force. In total, the catapults got off three volleys, the ballistae four, before they lost their usefulness. Our archers took over the barrage, then. They were outnumbered by Gaea’s, but had better cover and greater accuracy.

But the real function of the archers was to keep the enemy off-balance. They had to protect themselves against the barrage of arrows, so they were unable to prepare properly to be charged.

Time to charge, then.

I stepped out in front of our small force and held out my arms. “Soldiers of Hades, awake and fight!” I called out in the Old Tongue. They responded instantly. I felt them leap out from me and take their shadowy forms, eager for the fight. With their appearance, my own energy soared. I felt like I could take on the entire horde myself.

I drew Shadow and led my small force into battle. The dead did exactly what I’d hoped; they panicked the officers’ horses and the giants as well. Giants don’t worry the dead at all, but the dead scare giants. That was one of the major advantages of having the dead to fight; giants are notoriously hard to kill, and they can cause a lot of damage. With the dead on our side, their power was diminished.

The Prince’s Own, as always, fought beside me as if they were a single being, able to anticipate how each other would react. The Jovians stuck by their Legion training, while the Neptunians were the most unpredictable and innovative. I’d never led a mixed group like this, but with our singular purpose, the disparate styles of combat were no handicap. If anything, the combination was even more devastating.

I briefly noticed Will Solace pulling a wounded soldier from the fray, but I had little attention to spare for even him. I concentrated on the enemies in front of me. The dead lent me their strength, their focus, and though I knew I would have to suffer the consequences later, I didn’t care.

I did notice Leo, on Festus, strafing the enemy with fire. Even that wouldn’t win the day for us . . .

. . . but it helped us to hold out long enough for Jason to arrive. He announced himself with a bolt of lightning to the center of the enemy force.

Something less dramatic would have been my preference. The strike left me blind and deaf for a few seconds. Fortunately, it did the same to the enemy force, but not to Jason’s cohort. They dropped out of the sky and took full advantage of the disarray Jason had caused. In moments, the tide of battle turned, and we became the attackers. For just a moment, Jason and I locked eyes, and I nodded, passing command to him.

“Follow the general!” I shouted to my force. Like good soldiers, they obeyed without question.

It’s hard to tell time during a battle. I could never decide later if it was moments or hours before the enemy took to their heels and ran from us.

I caught up with Jason. A familiar captain stood by his side.

“Gwen, it’s good to see you again,” I said.

“Prince Nico.” She nodded at me. “Pass my greetings to your sister when you see her again.”

Jason took my shoulder. “It’s good to see you looking so well. I heard you’d been wounded.”

“Pleasantries aside, what are your orders now?” I asked.

Jason’s eyes hardened. “Wipe them out. Every single one. My father has decreed that we are to give no quarter to anyone who attacks hospitals.”

“I can agree with that.” I glanced back at the soldiers who’d followed me. “With your permission, I would send these ones back to the hospital as a rear guard. Not all of them have completely healed from their injuries.”

“A good idea. Gwen, take your unit and flank the enemy to the right. Dakota will take the left. We don’t stop until every last one of the enemy is dead.”

Gwen snapped a salute. “Sire.” She ran to her pegasus and took charge of her unit.

The mop-up took some time. Bringing down a giant is no easy task, even with a lot of help. Eventually, though, we prevailed, and Gwen’s unit was left to make one last survey of the battlefield, making certain none of the enemy had escaped, while the rest of us returned to the hospital.

I was talking with Jason when Will reappeared, looking tired, with blood on his clothes. I knew we’d had at least a few deaths, none of them Hadean.

Will’s eyes flicked briefly to the dead, who were waiting on my orders, and he made a heroic effort not to shudder. “How is everything?”

I recalled what Will had said about having met the other crown princes. “Jason, I believe you and Will have met?”

“We have,” said Jason, shaking Will’s hand. “Will, it’s good to see you again.”

Will gave him a slightly-shaded version of his usual sunny smile. “Likewise. Your sister was here a few days ago, by the way.”

Jason’s eyebrows went up. “Really? It’s too bad I missed her. I don’t see her much unless Father calls her home to play happy families.” He patted my shoulder in a way he knew I hated. “It’s good to see my little baby cousin, at least.”

It was an old game, and I smiled as I pushed his hand away. “Want a swordfight? We’ll see who’s the little baby then.” Jason and I, for all our physical differences, were evenly matched when it came to the sword. The last time we’d sparred, I had beaten him, which gave me bragging rights. At least, until the next spar.

Before Jason could say anything else, Gwen returned with her report that the last of the enemy had been destroyed.

Jason nodded, his mouth a hard line. “Good.” He glanced over at Will. “The only way to stop these sorties is to make it clear that they’ll result in total destruction. My father has made it official policy.”

Will’s face clearly announced that he didn’t like it, but he nodded after a moment. He seemed to understand, as we did, that these attacks had to be made too costly for Gaea to continue with them.

And with the final enemy soldier gone, there was no reason to keep the dead waiting. “So, we’re done,” I said.

I could see the compassion in Jason’s face. “Yes, I suppose we are.”

I took a deep breath, and I spoke in the Old Tongue. “Soldiers of Hades, go back to your rest.”

They dissolved into dust, and I felt them as the soul marks etched themselves into my skin. And then the pain hit. It seemed like each time, I forgot exactly how terrible it was, and I crumpled under the onslaught. Too late, I saw Will reaching for me. I didn’t want to inflict my pain on him. “Don’t,” I managed, just as he and Jason caught me.

Will gasped, going pale. Even so, he didn’t let me go. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s the price he pays when he calls on the dead,” Jason explained. “He experiences the death agony of his soldiers every time.”

They more or less carried me to a bed. “What can I do for you?” was Will’s only question.

“Nothing. Nothing works. It’ll . . . it’ll be over when it’s over.” I tried my best to be reassuring, knowing that kind Will, healer Will, would want to help no matter what I said. “There are others who you can help. I’ll survive.”

He seemed reluctant. Then his mother stepped up. “I’ll stay with him, Will. Go do what you need to do.”

That seemed to reassure him, and he left me in his mother’s capable hands. She helped me out of my armor and gently washed my face, singing to me as I filtered in and out of consciousness, wracked with pain and visions of death. I felt the sword stroke that felled Devona; I lay on the cold ground with her and bled out. I felt the blow to the head that had cracked Gregor’s helmet and caused bleeding in his brain.

My mind cleared enough for me to realize I was clinging to Naomi’s hand, practically curled around it, calling for my own mother.

That was the last thing I remember of that night.

***

The sound of movement and quiet voices woke me early the next morning. If there’s one upside to the intense pain following releasing the dead, it’s that the lack of pain when you wake up afterward makes you feel almost giddy. I quickly spotted Jason putting on his armor, and his uninjured soldiers doing the same.

“Are you headed back to the base?” I asked.

Jason started a bit at my voice, but turned to face me. “Yes. There’s a new patrol in the area, so we can leave.”

There was no reason, now, why I needed to stay at the hospital. Will had healed me the previous day, and aside from some residual muscle soreness, I was ready to be a soldier again. Most of my unit could leave, too.

Only . . . I wanted to stay. I wanted to talk to Will, know him, be with him. I wanted to pull him into a private room and find out what his combination of gentleness and command would be like in bed.

I shook off the thoughts. I knew my duty, and it wasn’t to be found here. “Then I’ll leave with you, along with those of my unit who are fit to travel.”

Almost all of them were ready to go. Atka wouldn’t be ready for active duty for a time, but he could at least travel. Only Chryseis needed to stay.

“She lost a lot of blood,” said Victoria as I looked at my friend’s pale face. “There’s no quick way to fix that. But she’ll be okay.”

Chryseis shed a few tears as she said goodbye. I knew she hated not being able to fight alongside us.

“We’ll save you some enemies to fight,” I promised, taking her hand.

“I know,” she said, her voice still weak. “I’ll return to the fight soon, my Prince. I am with you, body and soul, in life and in death.”

It was an echo of the pledge she’d taken when she had joined the army. Had things gone otherwise during the battle that had sent us to the hospital, she’d have been resting with Devona and Gregor now. Personally, I was glad she was still alive. Much as I value the souls that fight alongside me, I wouldn’t cut short one of my soldiers’ lives for anything.

As I let go of Chryseis’s hand, I realized that Will Solace was asleep in one of the ward’s beds. He must have been exhausted after treating the wounded. In sleep, his face was younger, closer to that of the boy he was in his Dreaming. 

I hesitated. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye, but I also didn’t want to wake him. And I wondered if it might not be better to put him out of my mind as much as I could. Simple attraction and want was one thing; the realization that Will was the sort of man I could fall for, and fall for hard, was another entirely.

Will made a slight movement, as if beginning to awaken, and I made up my mind. “Will,” I said.

His name was enough to pull him from sleep. He looked adorably rumpled and bleary as he blinked at me. That only lasted long enough for him to take in my appearance, though. He sat up, instantly alert and focused. “Is there trouble?”

“No. Just a transport,” I said. “I’m going to be leaving with Jason and the soldiers who are ready to go. I wanted to . . . I wanted to thank you before I left.” That much was true enough, but nowhere near the whole truth that I wanted so much more with him.

His face, as always, reflected his emotions. He was clearly disappointed, and struggling not to be. “There’s – there’s no need to thank me. You saved all of us yesterday.”

“Need or not, you have my thanks, not just for myself, but for how well my people were treated by you.” I found myself twisting my skull ring on my finger, a nervous habit I thought I’d conquered years ago. “Please, thank your mother for me, too, when she awakens.”

He managed a smile as he stood and offered me his hand. “It’s been an honor, Prince Nicolas of the Angels.”

“For me as well.” I took his hand and held it for a long moment, and he made no effort to pull away. “I trust our paths will cross again. Goodbye, William Solace of House Apollo.”

“Goodbye.” The word was soft, accompanied by a sad smile.

I turned, resolute, and walked away. Almost against my will, though, I hesitated at the door of the ward and turned back to find Will watching me. The urge to go back to him, to hold him close and kiss him now because I might never again get the chance, seized me so forcefully I was nearly powerless against it.

But I couldn’t. It wouldn’t have been fair to him, or to me, to indulge myself that way. Even though I saw the naked longing in his eyes, too. I made myself turn away, and I left.

And in the days that followed, I hated myself for doing so.

***

Jason and I barely made it back to the base before we were summoned to the Imperial Legion Southern Field Headquarters. The message didn’t say much, only that our presence was required because of some new intelligence.

When we reached the headquarters, we quickly realized this was no ordinary briefing. Some of the highest-ranking generals in the Empire were there, as well as representatives from every major House and some of the minor ones. Hazel was there, and she greeted me joyfully. Jason’s sister, Thalia, was also there. Percy had been called in. Two of the top Neptunian generals, General Clarisse and General Sherman, were present, as well as Reyna and Frank.

House Hermes had sent the count’s two oldest sons, Travis and Connor. I generally tried to steer clear of them, as they were incorrigible practical jokers, and I found most of their jokes unamusing. Still, if you wanted information that someone else was reluctant to let go of, they could get it. Jason’s wife, Piper, represented her father and House Aphrodite. Countess Ceres had sent her daughter Lady Miranda. Leo was present as the representative of Baron Hephaestus. I quickly picked out the other nobles as well, hesitating slightly as my eyes found Lady Cyrene, who was Lord Apollo’s current primary consort. She was wearing a yellow gown decorated with the sun sigil of that House.

I tried to tell myself that of course Will would be working at his hospital, of course he wouldn’t be here. Stupidly, I was still disappointed.

Percy accosted me the moment Jason and I entered the war room. “Nico! I heard you got yourself hurt.”

“In fact, someone else hurt me,” I told him. “Unlike certain people, I don’t trip over my own big feet.”

He gave me a look of mock irritation. “That was one time!”

The bickering felt familiar. Percy and Jason, my ceremonial cousins, had always treated me like a little brother. At one time, I hadn’t appreciated it. Especially when I’d had an enormous, devastating crush on Percy. These days, I did appreciate them as both friends and family.

We shared an embrace, and I asked him, “How’s the war going for you?”

“We finally had a break in our favor,” he said as he drew back. “Queen Kymopoleia has agreed to help us. We can use the Storm Islands as a staging ground, and her navy will come under my command if we need them.”

I raised my eyebrows. Queen Kymopoleia wasn’t known as Queen of Storms for nothing. She had nature powers of her own that rivaled those of the Neptunian royals, and her temper was legendary. “What did you have to promise her?”

“Not much, since she’s at least as angry at Keto, who’s been raising all manner of sea monsters, as we are. We’ve guaranteed her full sovereignty and recognition from Neptune.” Percy shrugged. “It was inevitable in any case; my mother never fully agreed with my grandfather’s goal of absorbing the Storm Islands into Neptune. Kymopoleia’s assistance will be invaluable when . . . well, my wife will tell you.”

The meeting came to order at the entrance of Prince Percy’s wife, Princess Annabeth of Neptune. She wore a simple gray gown with a cape featuring the owl sigil of House Athena. That fact told me she was here representing her mother. Annabeth was a commanding woman, tall and slender and inevitably the smartest person in the room. While she was a more-than-capable warrior – the drakon-bone sword she wore by her side had seen use in battle – she was more valuable to the war effort as a strategist.

“My lords and ladies, nobles and commoners, and Your Royal Highnesses,” she began, sweeping the room with her storm-gray eyes. “I bring with me intelligence that may greatly impact the war effort, and my mother’s analysis of the data we have received from the spies of House Hermes and the Selenite Sisterhood.” She briefly inclined her head to Travis and Connor, and also to Thalia. “My mother deduced that Gaea’s recent attacks on hospitals were a sign of desperation. After consulting with the spies from Hermes and the Selenite Sisterhood, she is certain of this much: Gaea is losing the war. She has depleted her land, her people have lost heart, there’s in-fighting among the giant clans, and her only hope now is to buy time to renew her resources.”

Annabeth paused, letting that sink in. “We must not give her that time. We must take the war to her. If we concentrate all our forces and make a push to her citadel, we can bring this war to an end.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a war council without a bunch of people fighting. The room spontaneously combusted into argument. General Clarisse was ready to grab her weapons, jump into a chariot, and head for Gaea’s capital without waiting. Reyna was more cautious, but she trusted Annabeth. Some of the nobles were adamant that they did not want to make the push, that their lands had lost too many people already. Lady Cyrene countered that the Summerlands were under direct threat from Gaea, and allowing the war to go on would cost Apolline and Ceresian lives. Lady Miranda backed her up.

Percy stepped forward, drawing attention. “My lords and ladies, my mother, the Queen Poseidon, agrees with Duchess Athena. With the cooperation of Queen Kymopoleia of the Storm Islands, which we have secured, the Neptunian navy will have little difficulty in making its way to Titan Bay. We can keep her forces pinned down there while our air and ground forces attack the citadel.”

“You think Keto will be so easy to defeat?” demanded Lord Bacchus.

Annabeth smiled, and not in a nice way. “Keto will be dealing with her own problems very soon. It seems she made the mistake of straying too far north and sinking a Nordlands longship. My cousin Magnus Freyson tells me that Admiral Ran has rallied her navy and even now is sailing for Keto – and revenge.”

“Basically, this is the perfect time to attack Gaea,” Percy put in, echoing his wife’s smile. “We won’t get a better opportunity.”

“And my father agrees,” said Jason. “The Imperial House votes for the push.”

There was more talk and negotiating, but in the end, as I knew it would, the vote was to attack. The talk turned, then, to strategy. I contributed, as Hadean geomancers would be needed for our push, but I kept noticing Leo Valdez, off to the side, uncharacteristically quiet and still.

And I suddenly felt the chill of death around him.

“Leo?” I called.

He started and looked at me. “Yeah?”

“Are you all right?”

Leo looked back at the maps Annabeth had hung around the room. His eyes focused on one of the regions around Gaea’s citadel. “Yeah, just . . . thinking.”

He wandered off, then, finding Jason and engaging him in earnest conversation.

My sensing death around a person (a charming family trait) wasn’t necessarily a death sentence. It just meant that there was a very strong possibility that they would soon face death. It rarely did any good to tell someone that I sensed death on them, and past Hadean royals had even discovered it could be counterproductive, so I kept it to myself. But I kept an eye on Leo nonetheless. Hazel liked him; she’d met him during a visit to the Barony of Hephaestus, and he’d been one of the few youngsters at court to treat her as another kid rather than as the mysterious princess who’d appeared out of seemingly nowhere. I appreciated that about him.

All I could hope was that he’d survive the firestorm we were all about to get caught up in.

***

A few days later, I was finally reunited with the Prince’s Own. They were as glad to see me as I was to see them. Quyana had a special gift for me.

“I finished my beading,” she said, handing it to me. “It turns out it was for you.”

I unfolded the soft leather, which was curiously warm to the touch. The pattern Quyana had beaded into it was a sun, with a tiny shard of sun crystal in the center. The small crystal gave off a little heat and light, which was reflected by the other beads.

_He shall find his place in the sun . . ._

The Royal Prophecies aren’t well-known outside of Court circles, and the Northern Tribes have little use for them, anyway. Yet Quyana had made this sun and decided it was for me. And, interestingly, it looked a lot like the floral sun Will had shown me in the gardens of Delos, right down to the sun crystal in the center. Quyana was deeply intuitive, bordering on prescient. I wondered what she knew.

"Why do you think this is for me?" I asked her.

She smiled her gentle smile, as if the answer were obvious. "Because you need sunlight in your life, Nico."

Perhaps she was right.

I had to choose a new lieutenant because of Devona’s loss. I’d given it some thought, and I ended up choosing Alekos. He was a good man, steady and intelligent. We’d need that. He was also a strong geomancer, and his skills would be invaluable the closer we got to Gaea, who was quite possibly the most powerful geomancer in the world. For the same reasons, and because I could use all the help I could get in the months to come, I also promoted Phaedra to lieutenant.

“We’re going on the attack, my friends,” I told the Prince’s Own. I outlined for them what Annabeth had said and what the military strategy would be. “I’ll meet with the lieutenants and make the final decisions about the disposition of this unit. The rest of you, do whatever you have to in order to be ready to move out in three days’ time.”

When that day came, I stood at the head of my unit as the army units around the base gathered, and I touched the foreheads of my lieutenants with red paint. Atka, my longest-serving lieutenant, set his right hand on my left shoulder.

“We’re with you, my Prince,” he said. “Body and soul, in life and in death.”

I set my own right hand on his left shoulder. “And I am with you, and the dead are with you, as long as there is breath in me.”

We marched for Gaea.


	4. The Prince and the Healer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war ends. Nico returns to his kingdom, unsure of whether he'll ever see his healer again, but Hazel has Plans . . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been updating. I'm prepping for a huge move overseas, and it's kind of taking up a lot of my headspace lately. Nonetheless, I decided to give myself a birthday present by finishing this chapter. Looks like we'll have at least 5 chapters. Enjoy!

I have neither the time nor the inclination to write extensively about the events leading up to the end of the war. If you want those details, you can read about them in the Histories. Duchess Athena keeps the original set in her library, if you’d like to camp there for a few weeks. My own part was small, in the grand scheme of things.

We joined with the other Hadean units for the grueling, two-months-long slog into the heart of Gaea’s lands. Along the way, scores of Hadeans died, and I performed their rites, collecting their souls as I did so. By the time of the final battle, my arms were covered in soul marks, and they were making inroads on my chest and back as well. There was a famous picture of a warrior queen ancestor of mine with marks on her face; I sincerely hoped mine wouldn’t go that far.

Especially as the pain of releasing them got worse with every mark. I had to release them twice on the way to Gaea’s citadel. It took almost a day for me to fully recover each time.

The final battle involved all of the Imperial Legions, ground and air cavalries from each kingdom, and the full might of the Neptunian navy, against every soldier and monster Gaea could muster, as well as Gaea herself. Her powers of geomancy had, if anything, been underestimated. In the end, it took Piper’s power of charmspeak (with Jason along as her protector) to distract Gaea long enough for Leo to ignite a reservoir of naphtha under her palace in order to bring her and her protectors down.

Once she was dead, Gaea’s human soldiers surrendered. Many of her monsters fled, but not the giants. Even those fell quickly enough to the forces massed against them. Finally, the war was at an end.

For me personally, it was a moment I’d hoped for, but still dreaded. I’d had the dead fighting along me for the better part of two days. Reabsorbing them was indescribably painful. At first, I thought it would kill me. Then I hoped it would.

I don’t remember much from those first hours, only the agony and falling into and out of hallucinations. Somehow, my people got me back to a manor house that had been converted into a (very busy) field hospital. I was aware of them stripping me of my armor, and of Hazel cleaning my face while trying to soothe me.

Her presence was the only thing that kept me from throwing myself out the window. I doubt I could have – the dead have been known to intervene to keep their carrier alive – but I might have given it a try. I’d have done anything to get away from the pain.

The worst of it was the cold. I was born in Hades; I greatly preferred excessive cold to excessive heat. I knew how to deal with cold. But not like this. Not when the cold seemed to radiate out from my bones, yet somehow never numb me. It felt like icicles were growing in my veins, like my joints were frozen and any movement threatened to rip my flesh apart.

At some point, I noticed Hazel was no longer there. I guessed – correctly, as I later learned – that she needed to collect herself so she wouldn’t break down on me. Not that my brain was up to processing all that at the time; I just understood that it was too hard for her to watch me in that much pain.

How much time I spent alone, I don’t know. I became conscious that someone else had entered the room eventually, and then a hand, fever-hot, took mine, and another of those burning hands touched my face.

“Nico?” said a voice that seemed familiar. “Nico, it’s me, Will. Remember me?”

Will. I remembered a Will. Beautiful like sunshine, gentle and calm and commanding. Yes, I knew Will.

I opened my eyes, and it was the Will I remembered. “Will,” I managed. “Will, I’m so cold.”

He moved then, joining me on the bed and drawing the covers, which I’d lost, over us. He was so warm, warmer than even the sun crystals my unit would pack into my bedroll during these times. I wrapped myself around his body, seeking to draw his warmth into my own body.

He started singing to me, the same lullaby I’d heard his mother sing once. And somehow, between the song and the warmth that seeped into my joints and loosened my muscles, the pain lessened. Nothing had ever made a difference in the pain before now, nothing but time. But Will did.

A scrap of poetry floated through my mind, written by one of my ancestors, a warrior king who’d been ridiculously in love with his queen:

_“My days are writ in pain, yet thine embrace, my love, conquerest even the cold of the grave . . .”_

Will’s borrowed warmth sank into me, filled me, and chased away the terrible chill. The pain wasn’t gone, but it seemed unimportant somehow. The smell of male sweat, blood and healer’s salve that filled my nostrils, that was important. The strong arms around me, they were important. The voice singing to me, the heart that beat under my ear, those were important.

And a part of me knew, even then, that I’d never recover from this night.

***

When I woke after a deep, restorative night’s sleep, I was alone, and I was disappointed. Of course Will had patients to see to; of course he had duties. And, truth be told, I wasn’t sure what I would have said or done had I awakened with him in my bed. What was growing between us wasn’t something I could put a name to. Nonetheless, I was disappointed that he was gone.

I didn’t have long to brood over it, though. Reyna opened the door quietly, as if unsure if I were awake and reluctant to wake me. She had with her a tray with tea and porridge.

“Ah, you’re awake,” she said when she saw me. “Good. You need to eat, and then you’re wanted at the citadel. Decisions are being made.” She placed the tray across my lap.

Wonderful. “Given that you’re delivering the news, I suppose the orders come straight from the Emperor?”

“Indeed.” Reyna perched on a chair as I began to eat. “There’s a bath house on the manor grounds. I recommend a wash and a shave.” Her mouth quirked. “That’s a very strong recommendation.”

A wash and a shave actually sounded wonderful. Soaking in a hot bath for a few days sounded even better, but Emperor Jupiter hadn’t given us so much as a day to rest. I understood that there were matters in need of settling with all due haste, but it didn’t make me any happier. I felt put-upon as I started eating.

Reyna didn’t leave. There was something about the way she was considering me that eventually drove me to say, “What?”

She pursed her lips as if considering her words. When they came, I nearly choked on my porridge. “What’s going on between you and the healer?”

I drank some tea to buy time to consider my own words. “Reyna . . . I just don’t know. He’s different. Special. I’d gladly make him my lover, but . . . I don’t know if I could leave it at that.”

“And that frightens you.” Reyna’s dark eyes fell. “I understand.”

I knew she did. When she was younger, she’d been all but betrothed to Prince Jason. Reyna was a noblewoman in her own right; her sister was head of House Bellona. Empress Juno was particularly impressed by Reyna, she and Jason got along well, and everything seemed set, even if nothing was official . . .

. . . until Jason met Piper of House Aphrodite and fell fast and hard. Reyna once confessed to me that she’d been in love with Jason and hoped he could love her as well. To Reyna’s credit, she befriended Piper and was genuinely glad that Jason and Piper were such a good match for each other.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. I understood. I’d felt the sting of it when Percy and Annabeth got engaged. In my case, I’d known Percy would never consider me as a match, but having one’s youthful dreams smashed still wasn’t easy. For Reyna, it was worse, and she’d quietly closed off her heart and dedicated herself to the Imperial Legions.

I hoped she’d open herself to love again. If anyone deserved to be treasured, she did.

I finished my meal quietly, and Reyna helped me into my clothes – I was incredibly stiff and sore – so I could go down to the bath house. The wash and shave felt fantastic. Afterward, Reyna and I headed to the citadel together.

As we left the manor, I looked back, and I saw Will through one of the windows, tending to his patients. He was absolutely in his element, like Percy at sea. There was something beautiful about that, beautiful about him.

“What do you want to do, little brother?” Reyna asked in her musical Bellona accent.

I sighed. “What I can’t do, not right now.” Resolutely, I turned, and Reyna and I went to the citadel.

***

It was boring, of course. Show me a meeting full of nobles, royals and generals, and I’ll show you boring. It was especially so for me, since Hades was so far from Gaea that our part in the nation’s rebuilding would be rather small. All the same, I was forced to sit and observe the proceedings. I found myself idly wondering if bearing the pain of the dead was really worse than this.

That thought led me back to the night before, and Will. How had he done it? Granted, I’d never been held during those times, but I found it hard to believe that just anyone could do what he’d done.

And how had he been so bold as to climb into bed with a prince? Was it just his instincts as a healer that had led him to do so? Or was it because of his feelings for me? I was sure he felt something for me; our connection was real.

Lord Alekos bumped my elbow, bringing me back to the present. Like me, he’d been dragged into this meeting. Also like me, his stoic front masked a sick sense of humor.

“You’re woolgathering,” he muttered. “If I have to suffer through this, so do you. Your Royal Highness.” He added the last bit after a brief pause.

“I’m stripping you of your title and throwing you in a dungeon when we get home,” I muttered back.

“Try it.” Another pause. “Your Royal Highness.”

When we finally got a break in the proceedings, I caught up with Jason and asked him, “How’s Leo doing?”

Jason looked drawn and tired, but happy. “He’ll make it. Master Asclepius is looking after him. I was just talking about this to Will this morning, actually.”

“You saw Will this morning?” I blurted out, and promptly kicked myself.

Jason looked at me with interest. “Yes. Hazel said he was very helpful to you last night.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat.

“Nico . . .” Jason’s eyes narrowed. “You _didn’t_. Did you?”

I pulled myself together. “Of course not. Last night, I couldn’t have. He was acting in his capacity as a healer. That’s all.”

Unfortunately, Jason wasn’t nearly the lunkhead Percy was when it came to personal relationships, and I could tell he wasn’t remotely convinced. I was saved from further questioning by the end of the recess, and went right back to being bored half to death.

Fortunately, by the time we got back to the army base, the Prince’s Own were well on their way to complete and utter drunkenness. They deserved to let loose. All of them had lost friends, loved ones and/or family members over the course of the war. Some, like Alekos, would have to stay in Gaea for a while, as geomancers were key to our strategy for helping the nation recover. A party was the least of what I owed them.

“Nico!” cried Lucia as we entered. “And Alek! We’ve been waiting for you!” She threw her long arms around us both. “You’re my favorites. Well, everyone’s my favorites. But you’re my _favorite_ -favorites.”

Alekos untangled himself from her. “Sorry, Luce, but we’re in desperate need of intoxicants. And maybe an orgy.”

“I tried organizing an orgy, but Atka’s being a stick-in-the-mud,” Eirek Sigurdsson informed us from a couch. He had a tankard of ale in one hand and a Bacchan weed rollup in the other.

Atka slugged back some beer. “No orgies with my little sister in the room.” Quyana rolled her eyes, but didn’t feel compelled to add to the conversation.

I accepted a goblet of wine from Alekos. “I don’t think I could stay awake long enough for a good orgy, anyway.”

Lysander snickered. “Bet you could if we had your sweet-faced healer boy here. What’s his name?”

“William,” supplied Phaedra, who was cuddling an entire carafe of wine and occasionally taking sips from it. She giggled. “Will- _yum_!”

“Oh, he’s so nice!” Lucia wobbled her way over to me again and slung her arm back around my shoulders. “You like him. You should tell him you like him.”

Alekos smirked at me. “Yes, you should. In fact, you should shadow-travel to his room right now and explain just how you feel. With color illustrations, and perhaps a demonstration.”

“Dungeon,” I reminded him, shrugging off Lucia’s arm for the second time. “And that’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. Number one, I don’t know where his room is, or if he’s even in it right now. Number two, at this point, he’s probably even more exhausted than I am. Number three, if I just appeared in his room, with my luck, he’d probably scream and clutch at his covers like an offended virgin.”

Phaedra gave a snorting laugh. “Oh, I don’t think so!” She took a gulp from her carafe.

“That amount of wine will kill you,” I informed her.

She hugged the carafe and pouted at me. “Wine is my friend! It would never hurt me!”

“I’ll remind you that you said that in the morning. Loudly,” said Alekos.

“You’re _not_ my friend.” Phaedra stuck her tongue out at him.

“Everyone’s friends here,” proclaimed Lucia. “No, everyone’s family.” Her lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears. “And now we have to go away and maybe never see each other again! What will I do without all of you?”

She broke down sobbing, and Quyana came over to comfort her, a little awkwardly because of their height difference and the fact that they’d both been drinking. “But you’re coming home with Atka and me, Luce. Don’t be sad.”

“Oooh, yes!” Lucia perked right up. “We’re going to hunt leviathans! You should come with us, Nico!”

“I’ve done it before,” I told her. I had, too. I’d joined the yearly hunt when I was fourteen. Every winter, just as the ice came in, the Northern Tribes would unite to take a Great Northern Leviathan. It was dangerous; leviathans didn’t go down easily, and the hunt could attract seawolves – pack-hunting toothed whales – as well. Every year, there was at least one death. Anyone who died would be honored and left in the sea as a gift to the spirits.

But the rewards were worth it. Every part of the leviathan would be used. The flesh, blubber, bones, teeth, and hide would be distributed among the tribes, and all would benefit. The meat, blubber and organs of just one of the enormous beasts was enough to feed entire villages for months, the hides and bones would be used for shelters and tools, the teeth would end up on spears that would be passed through families for generations.

It was also a bonding experience for the tribes. It meant days or weeks of joint preparation, ceremonies, hunting, butchering, and partying. Joining the hunt had earned me the respect of the tribes and, for them, the right to become their king one day. The fact that Atka and Quyana had asked Lucia to join them meant that they considered her a member of their family. I was glad of that. Lucia had lost enough in her life; it was right that she should gain something, too.

As I looked around the room at my unit, I realized I’d gained something through all this as well.

I sat down and took a puff from Eirek’s proffered rollup. The world blurred pleasantly at the edges, and I let myself relax into my unit’s celebration.

***

It was almost a full month before I could even think about going home. We managed to set up a semi-functional government in Gaea. A few shipments of Ceresian grain and produce were enough to get some important regional leaders on board, added to the help of our geomancers to undo some of the damage Gaea herself had done.

I was so busy that I was unable to stop back by the field hospital before the healers took our wounded back to the Summerlands border. Will had gone home, and I didn’t know when I’d have the chance to see him again. The thought left me feeling oddly hollow.

Much of the army withdrew as well, including the Prince’s Own. Before they left, I told them that I owed them all a boon, which they could collect at any time.

Finally, Hazel and I decided that Gaea could do without our presence. She’d sent her beloved horse, Arion, back with the army, and she and I shadow-traveled home. We managed it in two leaps. The first one took us to the Summerlands, within sight of the Apolline Range. With autumn setting in, it looked golden and warm. I thought about Will and wondered how far away Delos was, and if he was there. 

The second leap took us to the Necropolis. It’s impossible to shadow-travel into Hades without landing there, just like it’s impossible to shadow-travel from Aphrodite to Mars without going through the Trivium. Nexus points, I was told when I was learning my powers. There were more of them around the world, but I’d only ever experienced those two.

I took a deep breath of the cool, clean wind flowing down from the Erebus Range and squeezed my sister’s hand. “We’re home,” I said.

“Yeah,” she sighed, leaning on me just a little. “We’re home.”

***

Settling back into life in Hades wasn’t a smooth process. It was strange, coming home after being away so long, and going back to my regular princely duties after being a soldier. I felt ill-fitting, out of place. As autumn settled in and the nights grew longer, I found myself returning again and again to the Lotus House. I fetched bedding and pillows from the bedrooms and made myself a nest on the floor of the main hall so I could watch the Angel Lights. They soothed me, helped me sleep.

One night, as I lay watching the lights shift and dance, Hazel stepped out of a shadow. She used shadow-travel less than I did; she had her own talents, things that came more naturally to her. But somehow, I wasn’t surprised to see her.

She slipped into bed beside me, and I wrapped an arm around her. We lay there for a while, relaxing in each other’s company and watching the lights.

“It feels so strange, being home,” Hazel finally said.

I tightened the arm around her shoulders. “I know. I was just thinking about it. How much has changed – how much I’ve changed.”

She sighed softly. “I don’t feel like the same person I was before I left, either.”

“At least you’ve got Frank.”

“I do.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “Just a few more months.”

I kissed her hair. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve become such an amazing woman.”

She shifted slightly to look at me. “Do you even know how much I look up to you? How much our people admire you? You’ve changed all of Hades by taking the stand you did.”

The thought made me a little uncomfortable, and I played it off with a joke. “If they admire me so much, why have I not gotten laid since I got home?”

She poked me in the side. “You.” I felt, rather than saw, her mischievous look. “But if we’re on the subject, I haven’t noticed you doing a lot of tail-chasing. I think your mind may just be stuck on someone.”

Will. I’d tried, largely unsuccessfully, to put him out of my mind. I couldn’t help but hope I’d see him again at one of the events planned by the various royal courts to celebrate the end of the war.

And yet, I couldn’t help but be afraid, too. I knew Will was attracted to me, as much as I was attracted to him. But we were so different; he might not want a relationship with a prince, and he didn’t seem like the type of man who’d be content with a romp or two in bed.

And I wondered if I could possibly be content only having that with him. I could fall for him.

I’d already half-fallen for him, if I were honest with myself.

Hazel was right, too. There were men, numerous men, who’d made it clear they wanted to be with me since I’d returned. Somehow, none of them appealed to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have sex, it was just . . . 

I wanted _Will_.

Hazel seemed to pick up on what I’d left unsaid. “You’ll see him again, and I know he’ll be glad to see you, too. I like him, you know.”

“I know.” I pressed another kiss to her hair. “And I like Frank. You two will make each other very happy.”

She made a little disgruntled sound. “I wish we could make each other happy _now_. Father’s assigned him a valet for no other purpose than to keep me from shadow-traveling to his room.”

If I’d had a drink in my mouth, I’d have spewed it. “Have you and Frank . . ?”

“No.” The word was sulky. “Between the Hesperides, Frank’s valet, and Frank’s Martian honor, nothing. I had to level with Hermione that I was visiting you tonight just so she’d let me out of her sight without raising the alarm.”

“It’s your fault for falling for a man,” I told her merrily. “If you wanted to bed a woman, you could.”

Hadean sexual mores are somewhat strict for the royal family. Getting pregnant out of wedlock or spawning by-blows is severely frowned upon when you’re a royal. It’s perfectly okay to engage in same-sex activities, however, since they are, by definition, non-procreative. Some families even urged their daughters into the Hesperides in the hopes of becoming a princess’s lover and gaining influence, just as other families had thrown their sons my way.

In a way, Hazel and I had opposite problems. She’d found love, but was strictly chaperoned to make sure she and Frank stayed chaste until they were married. I, on the other hand, had the Paradox of Being Me, and lots of sex. Until now, of course. Now, I found myself emotionally entangled with a man and unable to do anything about it, and uncertain I ever could.

“I only want Frank,” Hazel sighed. “But it’s just a few more months.”

“Just a few more months,” I repeated.

We were quiet for a while, but it was a nice quiet, a content one.

Hazel eventually broke the silence. “Is it strange that – that I miss camp life? Not the war, not the fear of what could happen, but . . .”

I thought back to the Prince’s Own. They were some of the first friends I’d ever made outside my family. Our experiences had bonded us all so closely that I found myself unconsciously expecting them to be there when I turned around. “It’s not strange,” I told Hazel.

We fell into silence again, and after a little while, her breathing changed, and I knew she’d fallen asleep. I let myself relax, and soon, I was asleep, too.

***

Hazel, bless her soul, had, unbeknownst to me, A Plan. As princess, she was the queen’s lieutenant when it came to the etiquette and courtesy of the Hadean Court. The queen was usually the first person to see royal correspondence, which meant Hazel was second.

The Emperor had sent out a proclamation containing the names of those who had been given knighthoods for their service during the war. Hazel, of course, saw it almost as soon as it arrived at the palace, but she kept quiet about it until the right moment.

Chilly as our family generally was, we usually ate dinner together with any other members of the court who happened to be at the palace. The evening after the proclamation arrived, the dinner party consisted of our family, Frank, Lady Hermione (Hazel’s lady-in-waiting and the most senior of the Hesperides), Lord Chancellor Geras, and Lord Chamberlain Charon. We were eating dinner when Hazel brought it up.

“And guess what, Nico?” she said. “Will was on the list. He’s Sir William now. Oh, and there was also a notation that he’s been granted the title of Master Healer.”

I almost choked on my dinner, but managed, “That-that’s good for him.”

“Who is Will?” asked Queen Persephone. Of course.

“Oh, he’s a healer of House Apollo who saved Nico’s life,” Hazel said airily, as if it were no big deal.

Which, of course, it was. “I wasn’t aware of this,” said my father. “Nico, was this the healer you mentioned to me in the Dreaming after you were injured?”

I took a sip of wine, realizing exactly what Hazel was doing, and how it might get Will an invitation to Hades. And, honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted that. Seeing me here, as a prince in my own realm, could easily cause him to feel I was out of his reach. But there was no way to politely extricate myself from the conversation. Which was precisely why Hazel had decided on this plan of attack. “Ah, yes. He’s a powerful healer and a ward of Lord Apollo. He ran the field hospital my unit and I ended up at after an ambush. He and his healers saved not only my life, but several of my friends.”

Hazel picked it up from there, prompting me to talk about the attack on the hospital and how Will had been present at Gaea’s fall.

“He sounds like an impressive young man,” Father said after I was finished. “I would like to give him my thanks.” Predictable.

“Lord Apollo will be invited to the honoring of the dead and Hazel’s wedding, of course,” said the queen, equally predictably. “We could ask that the healer be part of his retinue.”

“That’s a _wonderful_ idea!” exclaimed Hazel, as if she hadn’t had it in mind all along.

I somehow managed to finish my meal, and when dinner was over, I caught up with Hazel outside. “My dear little sister, what are you doing?”

She patted my cheek. “Looking out for you, of course. You’re going to need someone to take care of you after I’m a married woman. I have a feeling your healer boy is up to the task.”

“He’s not _my_ healer boy,” I protested.

“He could be. Don’t be too stupid when he’s here, okay?” With that, Hazel breezed off.

I was well and truly screwed.

***

In the months leading up to Solstice, when we would honor the dead, I did a little research. I sent away to the Athenian Library, where information about the great families of the Empire was kept, and asked the archivists about the family Solace. In time, they sent me a number of documents, including a scroll outlining the history of the family.

It was fascinating. The original Solaces were an offshoot of the first Lord Apollo’s family and were renowned for their healing abilities. In fact, the first Lord Apollo had given them the name Solace to honor those abilities. Over time, the family had lost its money and status, but they had never lost their gifts. Phoebus, Lord Apollo, had simply restored the family name to its previous honor.

In practical terms, along with his knighthood, it meant that Will was a fit match for any noble. I told myself that my research was done out of simple curiosity. Had Hazel known, she’d have happily called bullshit on me.

In the meantime, there was plenty of activity in the Hadean Royal Palace. The Emperor had decreed that the honoring of the dead in Hades would be the first celebration after the war’s end. I agreed with his decision. We needed to mourn our losses before celebrating our victory.

Of course, there was no end to the grumbling from those in warmer climes (which, in the Jovian Empire, meant everywhere other than Hades) that they would have to come here in midwinter. Our geomancers did wonderful work in keeping the passes clear, but the trip still wasn’t easy.

Nonetheless, the highest nobles in the land began to filter into Hades in the weeks before Solstice. Among the first arrivals were Queen Poseidon’s family, followed shortly by the Emperor’s, including a disgruntled-looking Thalia. My cousins helped to occupy my time and prevented me from going slightly insane. Each time a retinue was sighted, I’d be struck with both hope and anxiety that it would be Lord Apollo’s, and that Will would be with them.

I wondered if he was still interested in me. I wondered if he’d be intimidated at the idea of being a prince’s lover. I wondered if he might have found someone else in the meantime.

More carriage trains arrived. Lord Aphrodite came with his daughter Lacy and son Mitchell, Princess Piper’s siblings. Count Hermes and his three sons, Travis, Connor and Cecil, arrived the same day. Countess Ceres came with her daughters, the ladies Katherine, Miranda, Wilhelmina and Margaret. Baron Hephaestus was accompanied by his daughter Nyssa, his son Jacob, and his bastard son Leo, as well as Calypso the witch. Her presence caused some comment, but Leo was a hero of the land, and no one dared to say anything to him or the baron.

Lady Hylla of House Bellona came, along with the newly-minted Dame Reyna. I was intensely glad to see her again, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. I was even happier that a few of the Prince’s Own, including Alekos (along with his father, Duke Acheron) and Atka and Quyana representing the Northern Tribes, decided to make the journey.

We even had some more exotic visitors. A delegation came from the Nordlands, including Princess Annabeth’s cousin Magnus Freyson. Queen Kymopoleia’s husband, Prince Consort Briares, attended. Another delegation came from the Africanus nations. I can only imagine how the Hadean weather felt to them.

Finally, one of our lookouts spotted a carriage train with Lord Apollo’s sigil, and as usual, the royal family assembled to welcome them in the throne room. Hazel gave me an encouraging smile as I stood, fidgeting, by my father.

Lord Apollo’s retinue was ushered into the throne room and announced by Lord Chamberlain Charon. He’d brought with him his current primary consort, two of his children, the Honorable Naomi Solace, and Sir William Solace.

Will looked tired, but just as handsome and warm as he had when we’d first met. From the moment he walked in, I couldn’t look at anyone else. I didn’t even pay attention to what my father was saying. I saw Will acknowledge what I presumed was my father’s thanks for saving my life. Absently, I registered Father inviting Will and Naomi to the welcoming ball the following night.

Will looked straight at me and said, “It would be our pleasure.”

Gods help me, I wanted to follow him to his bedroom and give him a welcome he’d never forget. Something must have showed in my expression, because he blushed adorably. I was still sane enough to remember that he had to be exhausted, and I restrained myself.

Hazel didn’t. The moment royal protocol could be dropped, she grabbed my arm and squealed. “He’s so cute! He still likes you, I can tell.”

“You will be the death of me. Aren’t there wedding preparations you should be too busy with to torment your big brother?”

“The queen and Lady Hermione have most of those in hand.” Hazel slipped her arm through mine. “That means we can spend all of our time together for the next few days.”

“Gods help me.”

“Unless, of course, you find someone better to spend your time with.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

“Gods help me.”

Hazel kissed my cheek. “Good night, big brother. Sleep well, and have sweet, sunny dreams.”

Seriously, gods help me.

***

The next day was a cloud of protocol and preparations. I was in meetings with family, chancellors, councilors, nobility, royalty, clergy, laity, and nearly everyone else in Hades, with the notable exception of Will Solace. It was my personal Tartarus.

Just as I got out of meetings, my manservant yanked me into my room to get ready for the grand welcoming ball. I bathed, put on my royal finery, and suffered having my hair combed and pinned so firmly into place an avalanche couldn’t move it.

“You look very handsome,” said Hazel when she saw me. “I’m sure a certain Apolline gentleman will notice.”

“He’d better,” I growled. My head hurt from how tightly my hair had been pinned back.

“Places!” hissed Persephone.

I didn’t know what her hurry was. The presentations of the noble families was taking forever. Finally, though, Duchess Athena, escorted by Lord Malcolm, her son, descended the staircase, and it was finally time for the royals. Queen Poseidon’s family went first, and then the Emperor’s.

“Try to look like you don’t want to murder your valet,” Hazel whispered, “and I’ll try to look like one of my hairpins isn’t stabbing my head.”

That, at least, put a smile on my face as we followed the king and queen down the stairs and into the mass of the Good and the Great in the ballroom. I caught a glimpse of Apolline yellow and white off to one side, but couldn’t stop to look. And then we were among the crowd, and I had glad-handing to do.

My least-favorite princely duty. It was unavoidable, unfortunately. It gave me a bigger headache than my valet’s hairdressing skills. I suffered through it, hoping the tides and eddies of the event would eventually bring me to Will. Fortunately, I did have allies.

“Work your way to the right,” Alekos murmured over a glass of wine. “My right, that is. Your handsome healer is under the Nyx tapestry.”

“Alek, I’m naming my firstborn son after you,” I murmured back.

He raised his eyebrows. “But you won’t have any children.”

I caught up with Hazel as we worked our way to Will’s last reported position, and we soon found him chatting with Piper, Jason, Frank, Leo and Calypso. Will greeted Hazel first, as was proper, but I saw his eyes flick to me.

“Princess Hazel, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” he said, bowing over her hand.

She laughed. “Will, I think you’ve earned the right to use my name without my title.”

Of course, my hormonal self couldn’t resist the opening. “I don’t know. Maybe he wants to be called ‘Sir William.’ Is that what you’d like, Sir William?”

He gave me a stern look that did nothing at all to make me less hormonal. “I prefer Master William, actually.”

“Master William,” I mused. “That does have a nice ring.”

Will blushed beautifully, and suddenly, the women all found places that they and their men needed to be. Bless Piper, she never misses a chance to throw potential lovers together. 

I set down my wine goblet and held out a hand to Will. “Come, Master William. I want to show you something.”

Will took my hand, and I led him away from the party to the place he’d first interrupted my Dreaming. Why I did it, I didn’t know, not entirely, but it seemed right to show him that balcony, with the moonlight on the mountains and the Angel Lights overhead.

“Look up,” I told him when we reached the open air.

He did, and I had the pleasure of watching his face light up with wonder. He really was an open book.

“It’s like – it’s like visible music,” he said.

I’d never thought of the Angel Lights that way, but I understood what he meant. When I was a little boy, I had the strange impression that the lights were somehow the laughter of the gods.

Still watching the reflection of the lights on his face, I said, “They filled the sky when I was born. My mother saw them and called me Nico of the Angels. My father changed my name to Nicolas, but the story got out, of course. People knew who my mother was, where she came from, and the name Nicolas of the Angels stuck. It annoys the queen, so there’s no real downside.”

Will looked at me. “I just thought it was because you’re so beautiful.”

There was no artifice to what he said or how he said it. The words expressed what he saw and felt, no more, no less, and to me, there was nothing more appealing. I took a step toward him . . .

Only to be interrupted by Lord Chancellor Geras. “Your Royal Highness, the toasts are about to begin. You’re needed back at the ballroom!” he crabbed at me.

The moment was lost. Will looked as crestfallen as I felt, though not quite as frustrated. Cursing under my breath, I led Will back to the ballroom to suffer through the toasts.

Once they were over, I tried to look for Will again, only for my casual inquiries to be met with the information that he’d already left the ball. I cursed a few more times and sought an excuse to leave, which was not easy to find. The queen glared at me in no uncertain terms when I mentioned I might be tired.

Finally, though, I was free. I gladly stripped off my finery and let my hair down. In the middle of washing up, I looked in the mirror, at my soul marks and scars, and wondered if Will would mind them. I didn’t think he would; he had been a war medic for far too long to expect perfection in a lover.

The question of how to make him my lover loomed. I thought of a dozen ways to seduce him while he was here, but frankly, I didn’t want to wait. I wanted him; he wanted me. There were feelings between us that I couldn’t deny, and I doubted he would.

“To Tartarus with it,” I muttered at my reflection.

I ended up going with the stupidest plan of all, the one Alekos had suggested back in Gaea. It lacked all subtlety, but I’d never had an especially good relationship with subtlety in the first place.

In short, I shadow-traveled straight to Will’s room.

He was sitting on his bed, shirtless and looking a little crestfallen, but appealingly fresh from bathing. When I stepped out of the shadows, he looked up and me and blinked, but said nothing, as if he was unsure he could believe his eyes.

I approached him slowly, holding his eyes with mine. Those beautiful blue eyes were wide and full of wonder, the way they’d been under the Angel Lights. Encouraged, I tentatively touched his shoulder. His skin felt scorchingly hot under my fingers.

Carefully, I set one knee on the bed, then the other, balancing over his lap. It was a bold move, but not only didn’t he try to stop me, his arms came up to hold me in place, his hands sliding over my back.

I leaned down to kiss him, slowly, giving him every chance to reject me if he didn’t want me. I savored the first touch of our lips, memorized the feel of his mouth. It had been so long . . .

He took it from there, deepening the kiss, invading my mouth, his hands coming up to hold my head in place. Yes, he wanted me every bit as much as I wanted him. We kissed again and again as we reclined on the bed, stretching out, bringing more of our bodies into contact.

I started to kiss my way down his throat, and he gasped out, “Is – is this real? It’s not just a dream, is it?”

I decided to show him real. I bit his neck, not hard, but enough to assure him that I was really there. I reaped immediate rewards when he shoved me over and returned the favor with refreshing aggression.

“Satisfied this isn’t a dream, Will?” I laughed.

He lifted his head, his eyes wide, his cheeks burning, and he was so beautiful I could barely take it.

“Nico,” he said. Nothing else, just my name.

He saw me, Nico. He wanted to know me, the man. He wanted me, and not the prince.

Looking back, that was the moment that I first knew, deep down, that he was the one.

I touched his face tenderly. “I’ve wanted this for so long.”

Will shook his head as if he didn’t understand me. “You could have any man you wanted. There must be any number vying for your attention. Why me?”

“I told you before. They want the prince, not Nico.” I looked into his eyes. “Who do you want, Will?”

He stroked my face, eyes soft and warm. “Nico. Always Nico.”

That beautiful, unguarded honesty again. I touched his lips. “I saw you in the Dreaming. You can’t trust appearances there, but you can trust souls. I felt like I knew yours.” I lifted my head enough to kiss him, and admitted, “I don’t do this very often, take a lover.”

“Neither do I,” he said.

I found that hard to understand. “You? You’re gorgeous. You must’ve had plenty of opportunities, even in war.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Opportunities? Yes. Energy? No. Being a healer in war consumes everything about you.” His blush deepened. “And by the time the war ended, I couldn’t stop thinking about a certain prince.”

I couldn’t resist teasing him. “Really? Percy and Jason don’t seem like your types.”

That made him laugh again, and he ran a hand through my hair. “ _This_ prince.”

I pulled him close and kissed him again, reveling in the feel of his body, the scent and the warmth of him, and deliberately rolled our hips together, sending a jolt of pleasure through my body. Gods, it really had been too long.

“Gods, Nico. I can’t vouch for how long this is going to last,” he groaned, voice strained.

I could deal with that. “Then we’ll just have to try for a second round.”

Some people get off on danger. I’d seen plenty of danger in my life, plenty of instability. What turned me on was safety. Will was _safe_. He had no instinct for censoring himself, no guile. Every emotion was expressed in his face and voice, nothing was held back, and because of that, I didn’t hold back, either. I surrendered to him in a way I never had with a lover before.

It was like sledding down a steep slope, the way I had when I was a child. The thrill comes from the fall, from feeling out of control, and yet, you know you’re safe. Nothing bad will happen. That was what it was like with Will. I was falling, falling fast, and I didn’t want to stop falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA: Please be responsible when smoking Bacchan weed.


End file.
